QUESTION NO 1563
NOTICE PAPER 420 OF 2013
FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
Date: For Parliament Sitting on 21 OCTOBER 2013
Name and
Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Yee Jenn Jong, NCMP
Question:
To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether
MAS's Annual SME Financing Survey 2013 has been completed; (b) if so, what are the
findings as to the trend of accessibility of bank loans for SMEs; (c) whether
there are MAS rules requiring a mandatory project track record period or other
requirements with regard to bank loans specific to SMEs; and (d) whether the
setting up of a credit bureau for SMEs will help worthy SMEs obtain needed
working and expansion credit from banks.
Answer by Mr Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and
Youth on behalf of Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister in Charge of MAS:
1 MAS conducts an annual survey of major
lenders to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to better understand financing
conditions for SMEs.
2 The preliminary results for the 2013
survey indicate that SME lending grew by 9% in the year ending June 2013. 27% of SME loans were unsecured, 55% were secured
on property collateral, mainly commercial or industrial properties, and the
remaining 18% were secured on other forms of collateral.
3 MAS does not call for banks to require
that SMEs meet a project track record or any specific requirement in order to
get a loan. All MAS expects is that banks
and finance companies make prudent lending decisions, based on their own credit
assessments and risk tolerance. In evaluating
loans, financial institutions would typically also consider their interests in
keeping their customers.
4 Credit bureaus can help the market
function efficiently. They help
financial institutions make good credit decisions. There are indeed existing credit bureaus in
Singapore which provide credit evaluation and monitoring based on other
corporate information such as company and shareholder details, supplier payment
trends and litigation records.
* * *