BSP lends more to SMEs

The Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) urged banks to lend more to micro, small, and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help sustain the 7.9% gross domestic product growth recorded in the first half of the year, reports PhilStar.com.

Deputy governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. says the access to finance by SMEs from banks and other financial institutions still pales in comparison with the country's neighbors and still needs more room for improvement.

“While there are already many niche financial institutions targeting the SME sector, the overall volume of formal SME financing still leaves much to be desired,” Espenilla stresses.

Only one in five of the UK's smaller employers have started to consider the financial impact of new statutory rules which, from 2014 will require them to auto-enrol millions of extra employees into workplace pension schemes - employees who at present have not joined schemes, says EmployeeBenefits.co.uk.

The report, '2010 Smaller Firms' Pensions Survey: Auto-enrolment and Nest', from Association of Consulting Actuaries polled 404 SMEs with 250 or fewer employees.

Across the UK, there are over 1.2 million SMEs with one employee or more. All will be required to auto-enrol their employees into a qualifying workplace pension scheme under the government's pension reforms, which come into effect for large employers from 2012.

New research by Bacs shows that UK small businesses are waiting nearly 40 days longer than their agreed payment terms before invoices are settled. But there is a 20% drop in the number of companies feeling the impact of these shortfalls, states More Than Business.com.

However, Mike Hutchinson, head of marketing at the organisation, believes this is largely due to the individual companies' efforts. "It's extremely heartening to see that there are now many companies making great strides to help themselves beat the late payments cycle, by sharpening up their billing and credit control procedures."

The study shows 769 000 small businesses are still affected and that large companies are the main late payments culprits. 37% of SMEs have cited them as the worst offenders. Sole traders were also named as 17% of respondents pointed the finger, with the same number (17%) blaming fellow SMEs.