CGCC

Understanding CGCC Portfolio Guarantee Scheme

It has been two years since CGCC launched Cambodia’s first-ever public credit guarantee scheme on 29 March 2021 – the Business Recovery Guarantee Scheme (BRGS) – when Cambodia was at the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Shortly after the launch, Cambodia experienced a 3-week lockdown on 8 April 2021. In that situation, the credit guarantee was more needed than ever when potential businesses struggled to access the required capital to stand on their feet. Two more schemes were then introduced: Co-financing Guarantee Scheme (CFGS) and the Women Entrepreneurs Guarantee Scheme (WEGS) to support businesses. The BRGS, CFGS, and WEGS are regarded as the Individual Guarantee Scheme (IGS), which means the PFI shall seek guarantee approval from CGCC on a piecemeal basis before each guaranteed loan disbursement.

On 1 January 2023, CGCC hit a new milestone by introducing the Portfolio Guarantee Scheme (PGS) after approval was granted by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance. PGS is a scheme under which guaranteed loan criteria are pre-agreed by CGCC and PFI to enable the PFI to enroll multiple loans in PGS without having to get CGCC’s guarantee approval on each loan prior to loan disbursement. As such, PGS enables quicker outreach and turnaround time than the previous Individual Guarantee Schemes (IGS).

Read More: Understanding CGCC Portfolio Guarantee Scheme

CGCC provides $120M credit guarantees to biz

The Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) provided credit guarantees of $120 million to businesses as of February 2023.

CGCC announced on Wednesday that it supported 1,367 businesses by providing credit guarantees for their loan applications as of the end of April 2023.

The report stated that a significant portion of the loan guarantees were used for working capital, investment, business expansion, and capital expenditures.

The total amount of outstanding guaranteed loans was $97.5 million, while the total amount of outstanding guaranteed obligations was $70.32 million.

It said that there are 1,249 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and 118 large businesses in Cambodia.

About 550 were women-owned, 513 were secured loans, and 854 were unsecured loans.

CGCC said that various credit guarantee schemes played a vital role in strengthening entrepreneurship and improving financial inclusion in Cambodia, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, by facilitating the smooth distribution of loans.

It launched three guarantee schemes so far, including the Business Recovery Guarantee Scheme (BRGS) in March 2022; the Co-Financing Guarantee Scheme (CFGS) in September 2021; and the Women Entrepreneurs Guarantee Scheme in April 2022. The CGCC also extended the CFGS to the tourism sector.

The CGCC, which is under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, extended the BRGS from January 1, 2023, until the $200 million scheme is fully utilized.

These guarantee schemes are a way to help businesses get the money they need to grow and succeed. They are a valuable tool for supporting entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in the country.

The extension of BRGS will include updates to some of its features, such as the scheme period, the definition of MSMEs and large firms, and the maximum loan amount for each guarantee.

BRGS aims to help businesses, including MSMEs and large firms, obtain formal loans from participating financial institutions for working capital, investment, and business expansion.

CGCC, the first credit guarantee institution in the country, was established in August 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, to provide timely credit to support the rehabilitation and sustainability of local businesses.

The Cambodian Credit Guarantee Corporation has played an important role in serving the needs of small and medium enterprises in Cambodia, which are struggling during the epidemic of Covid-19 and the inflation crisis, and need credit from banks for their businesses.

It played a vital role in supporting SMEs who have been struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic and the inflation crisis, and they need credit from banks to keep their businesses afloat.

Credit to : Khmer Times Published on May 19, 2023

Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development

The 11th Give a Day has featured the Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia as its keynote as well as enabled Cambodia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to connect at the new Khmer Enterprise Headquarters for the first time in 2023.

Khmer Enterprise CEO Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin delivered the welcoming remarks highlighting the ongoing progression of the initiative which was first piloted in 2021 before receiving its full funding for monthly and quarterly meetings in 2022 and has now been renewed for 2023.

“The Give a Day monthly meetings and quarterly ecosystem builder events have been greatly welcomed by Cambodia’s entrepreneurial community – and have provided both learnings and networking opportunities between various sectors,” he told over 50 attendees from the ecosystem at KE headquarters.

Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Sabine Joukes Pact Cambodia Country Director and WE Act Chief of Party, Khmer Enterprise CEO Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin, Rajiv Pradhan Country Director at Swisscontact in Cambodia.

“We also wanted to welcome everyone to our new headquarters at the Business Development Center in Chroy Changvar, Phnom Penh, and advise that our open working space is available to everyone in the ecosystem as well as both our meetings’ rooms and event space,” he added.

Rajiv Pradhan Country Director at Swisscontact in Cambodia and Sabine Joukes Pact Cambodia Country Director and WE Act Chief of Party echoed this statement adding it was fantastic to reconnect the ecosystem for the first time in 2023.

Increase credit guarantee issuance by 50% in 2023

Delivering the keynote CGCC CEO, Wong Keet Loong commented the scheme was looking to increase the number of transactions it underwrites by 50% in 2023 as the organization looks to increase its outreach to the country’s micro and small and medium businesses, (MSMEs).

CGCC received its sub-decree on September 2020 and was fully incorporated in November 2020 its guarantees are intended to expand the availability of credit to smaller enterprises that may not have the collateral which banks typically require to advance working capital loans.

Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Conversations after the keynote presentation.

Initially launched as a tool to close the credit gap that emerged between small businesses during the pandemic, the CGCC issued its first guarantee in April 2021 and has since given a total of 985 Letters of Guarantee (LG) for loans worth $92.7. Mr Loong said that the CGCC had even more ambitious targets for 2023.

“My biggest goal for this year is to increase the outreach of our guarantees. The CGCC wants to provide guarantees to 1500 SMEs this year. We want to guarantee $100 million of loans in 2023. I know that is optimistic but I believe it can be done,” he said in response to a question from Cambodia Investment Review.

Rising interest rates may impact growth

Mr Loong said that the main barrier to reaching this target was the global macro picture, particularly the impact of rising US interest rates.

“The main issue right now is that external factors are affecting the cost of funding, which is going up as US interest rates rise and this is affecting a number of financial institutions (FIs). They see that fixed deposit rates are going crazy which is good for depositors, but not FIs and this impacts their lending,” he added.

Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Attendees at the 11th Give a Day.

Global factors may act as a drag on the CGCC’s work in the near term, but fellow speaker H.E. Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin, CEO of Khmer Enterprise, said that if credit guarantees become more widely used in Cambodia it would make it much easier for firms to do business internationally.

“In their current state, a lot of Cambodian companies are unable to demonstrate a track record of success, however, if they run through the credit guarantee program with CGCC it provides a history of how well they managed issues such as shipping and cash flow.

So this is one of the things that we support them to expand their market internationally,” he said.

40% of its guarantees go to female-owned businesses

The CGCC currently offers four different guarantee products and in April last year, it launched it’s third the Women Entrepreneurs Guarantee Scheme (WEGS), a $50m capped fund that is aimed at supporting women and female-owned businesses.

According to the CGCC’s data up to 40% of its guarantees go to female-owned businesses, whereas Mr Loong said that up to 65% of Cambodian MSMEs were run by women. An audience member, who didn’t identify herself, suggested that this gap was partly due to issues over lack of financial knowledge.

“One reason is that we know most women entrepreneur’s businesses are not registered and one way to improve that is via financial literacy, and this will have many benefits. If financial literacy is growing then entrepreneurs are more confident, more informed, and able to negotiate good loans,” she said.

Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Questions and answer session.

Mr Loong responded that the CGCC did support unregistered businesses, for the first year at least and that expanding awareness of credit guarantees should in turn increase the number of registrations by female business owners.

“However, we tell customers that you need to be registered after a year, because when the anniversary comes, if you’re not registered, then we charge you an additional 0.5%. So, in a way, it incentivizes businesses to be registered. But when they come on board, they can be unregistered,” he said.

The Give a Day program returns in 2023

Give a Day is an initiative within the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Building Project (EEB) which is jointly funded by Khmer Enterprise, USAID’s WE Act Project through Pact Cambodia and Swisscontact.

In addition, to monthly meetings, the initiative also included a quarterly Ecosystem Builders Network (EBN) event that focused on mapping the six pillars of Isenberg’s Model of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.

Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development
The 11th Give a Day program at Khmer Enterprise Head Office on February 10, 2023.

The quarterly meetings created a space through which ecosystem builders and government agencies can share information, foster best practices, identify market gaps and opportunities, and explore collaboration or complementarity to strengthen the ecosystem.

Cambodia’s ESO ecosystem, broadly defined as groups that support, train, and fund entrepreneurs is still in the nascent stage with many new organizations launched to help nature and develop the sector.

Credit to Cambodia Investment Review: Give a Day: Credit Guarantee Schemes & Its role in Enterprise Development

CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event

On 10 February 2023, Mr. Wong Keet Loong, CEO of CGCC, provided a Keynote Presentation on “Credit Guarantee Schemes of CGCC and its Role in Enterprise Development” at “Give a Day” event, co-organized by Swisscontact, Khmer Enterprise, and Pact Cambodia, and presided over by H.E. Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin, Mr. Rajiv Pradhan, Country Director of Swisscontact, Ms. Sabine Joukes, Chief of Party, WE Act/Pact Cambodia, and participated by almost representatives from Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs), investors and business associations.

CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event
CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event

“Give a Day” is a forum gathering the entrepreneurial ecosystem community in Cambodia that are mutually supporting each other with​ the willingness to​​ bring any open discussion related to entrepreneurship for effective solutions. Today’s “Give a Day” event theme is credit guarantee schemes that are a gateway for SMEs to access formal loans, therefore it is crucial that SMEs and ESOs understand the schemes.

Mr. KL Wong introduced credit guarantee schemes’ journey in Cambodian Financial Ecosystem and its role in supporting potential MSMEs to be able to obtain an easier and larger amount of loans under CGCC’s credit guarantee through CGCC’s participating financial institutions. Participants were pleased to learn about the benefits of credit guarantees and how this financial instrument could address the challenges in access to finance that their members and network are currently facing.

CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event
CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event
CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event
CGCC and Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in Enterprise Development of “Give a Day” Event

You might be to know more about: 8th Board of Directors Meeting of Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia

Understanding Credit Guarantee-Interview with Sathapana Bank

Read and Download in PDF: Hear from our PFIs_Interview with Sathapana Bank

1. What is your bank perspective toward the credit guarantee schemes in Cambodia and what encourage Sathapana to join as CGCC’s PFI?

Credit guarantee scheme is important in filling the financing gap for SMEs. The scheme provides credit risk mitigation to Sathapana Bank. This, in turn, helps us to extend loans to SMEs which contribute significantly to the economy of Cambodia. The Credit Guarantee of Cambodia (CGCC) therefore plays a crucial role in supporting credit access for SMEs in the country.

 

2. After signing a partnership with CGCC and becoming one of the most supportive CGCC’s PFIs in disbursed guaranteed loans, how do the credit guarantee schemes benefit the bank and your customers?

Majority of the lending products in Cambodia are secured loans. We saw working with CGCC as a good opportunity for us to extend our support to our customers who require funding to help their business grow with no collateral needed. The scheme allows us to innovate and provide a 100% hard collateral-free loans to business owners. We are proud to be the first bank to do so. As of September 2022, more than USD12 million of loans have been booked under Credit Guarantee Scheme. For our clients, the scheme gives them the opportunities to continue growing their business with better access to financing.

 

3. What motivates Sathapana to initiate the uncollateral loan product “Business Installment Loan Program (BIL)” that is 100% unsecured loans for borrowers with the capacities to repay but lack of collateral?

In Cambodia, FIs are mainly lending against hard collaterals. Access to credit will be curtailed for business owners who do not have hard collateral to provide to FIs to secure the loans. We believe this represents a large segment of the market. Our goal is to help them to gain access to financing to help them grow while managing our credit risks.

 

4. Recently, CGCC, Sathapana and two other partners have jointly organized a flagship training program called “I am Financially Literate (IFL)”, how does this program support SMEs and drive more growth to their businesses including access to financing?

IFL is an executive program initiated by Sathapana Bank in a joint partnership with CGCC and two other partners. The program aims to promote and improve financial literacy for women entrepreneurs and business owners through practical training sessions. The training includes project management, operation handling, financial management, marketing, and sales. Through IFL, participants are better equipped with making financial assessments and the know-how in getting access to financing.

 

5. As currently, Sathapana Bank’s momentum in disbursing unsecured loans for businesses under CGCC’s guarantee is moving fast, what is the future plan/strategy of Sathapana Bank for further expanding the usage of credit guarantees all over Cambodia?

In line with the government strategy to support the tourism sector to recover from the pandemic, we are working on a program with CGCC to support the recovery scheme. In addition to this program, we are launching a few initiatives country-wide to support clients in supply chain, leveraging on our extensive branches network.

 

6. As the credit guarantee topic is still considered as a new topic in Cambodia, what should Sathapana Bank and CGCC do to raise awareness of credit guarantees to the borrowers?

Through IFL, Sathapana Bank and CGCC are reaching out to customers who need to help grow their businesses. This is one of the few initiatives that we are working together to create more awareness and promotion of the credit guarantees to our customers who are looking for financing but are not sure how and what are their options. We can also personalize our message and communicate the benefits of our BIL program and scheme to the meet the needs of customers from different geographical locations and industries.

Understanding Credit Guarantee-Canadia Bank’s View on Partnership with CGCC

Read and Download in PDF: Hear from our PFIs_Canadia Bank

  1. As one of the first banks who become CGCC’s PFIs, what motivates Canadia Bank to utilize the credit guarantee schemes with the existing loan products of Canadia?

One of the main reasons that motivates us to use credit guarantee schemes is that we believe that the CGCC credit guarantee scheme can help potential business owners who need loans to for their businesses but do not have enough collaterals to access more capitals to meet the financial needs of their businesses, especially to recover and expand the businesses after the COVID crisis has been eased.

 

  1. After adopting CGCC’s credit guarantee schemes for more than a year, how do those schemes benefit the bank and your customers?

We have provided loans under the CGCC credit guarantee schemes to more than 200 clients with a total loan size of nearly $ 20 million over the past year. Through these guaranteed loans, clients are able to expand their business in various sectors that generate more employment and contributed significantly to the country’s economic recovery.

 

  1. How does Canadia Bank structure loans with credit guarantee?

We have CGCC’s guaranteed loan programs for potential clients with good credit histories and clear business plans. It can be provided to both existing customers and new customers.

 

  1. Recently, both Canadia Bank and CGCC have each launched products supporting women entrepreneurs. How will the “Smart Lady Loan” and CGCC’s “Women Entrepreneurs Guarantee Scheme” (WEGS) impact women-owned SMEs in greater access to finance regarding unsecured loans?

“Smart Lady” of Canadia Bank and “Women Entrepreneur Guarantee Scheme (WEGS)” of CGCC are making a significant contribution to support women entrepreneurs to access to the finance for their business needs, avoiding high-risk and risky loans. Through these two projects, women entrepreneurs have not only been able to access their loans more easily and conveniently but have significantly reduced their financial costs, especially in the first year, which included lower interest rates and guarantee fees. In addition, women entrepreneurs will receive many other benefits through the Smart Women Lady loan program from Canadia Bank.

 

  1. Canadia Bank is currently the top performer of using CGCC’s scheme, what is Canadia Bank’s strategy of further expanding the usage of credit guarantees, especially to the rural area SMEs?

We continue to reach out to our target customers, especially those who have potential businesses but do not have sufficient collateral to secure a loan. We will also continue to link credit guarantee schemes with our new loan products to provide a wider range of options for our customers.

 

  1. As the credit guarantee topic is a new topic in Cambodia, how should Canadia Bank and CGCC do to raise awareness of credit guarantee to the borrowers?

In order to raise awareness about credit guarantee, we should continue to promote it more comprehensively, especially reach out to more business owners through social media, workshops, business associations, etc.

Understanding Credit Guarantee-Maybank’s View on Partnership with CGCC

Read and Download in PDF: Hear from our PFIs_Maybank’s View on Partnership with CGCC

Continue reading “Understanding Credit Guarantee-Maybank’s View on Partnership with CGCC”

5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

Read & Download Full Article in PDF: 5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

Credit guarantee aims to support businesses, especially SMEs, access to formal loans. Under CGCC’s current schemes, CGCC provides credit guarantees on loans disbursed by banks and microfinance institutions that are the participating financial institutions (PFIs) to the borrowers. To reap the benefits of credit guarantees, the borrowers must be ready to apply for loans from the PFIs in the first place. Understanding how the PFIs assess the borrower’s creditworthiness helps the borrower better prepare to get the guaranteed loans.

 

Conditions

5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!
5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

Before approving a loan, the bank must be convinced about the loan purpose and the appropriate loan amount for such purpose. How can the borrowers convince the bank? A reliable business plan and financial statement are good testimony to justify the loan purpose and amount. A proper business plan and financial records not only make it easier to borrow but also allow borrowers to critically examine the current business condition and plan better for success. Precisely, they help gauge the appropriate loan amount and repayment capacity. Indeed, borrowing the right amount matters. A surplus borrowing costs unnecessary accumulated interest, fees, and prepayment penalties, while inadequate borrowing may hinder potential business growth. This is called “condition,” one of the 5 Cs that banks use to evaluate borrowers’ creditworthiness.

 

Collateral

5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!
5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

Given that the condition is satisfied, banks also require “collateral” to protect themselves against loan default. The banks typically provide loans worth about 70% of the borrower’s collateral value. The collateral requirement is one of the main challenges for borrowers’ access to loans from banks. According to IFC, of all small and medium enterprises that approached banks for loans, 66% were rejected because of lacking collateral requirements. This is why CGCC comes in. CGCC provides credit guarantees to banks to act as collateral on behalf of the borrowers. CGCC’s PFIs can assess the borrower’s creditworthiness by treating the credit guarantee as the borrower’s collateral. This reduces the collateral burden for the borrowers when applying for loans.

 

Capacity

5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!
5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

The ability to repay the loan is the fundamental requirement for the bank to approve a loan. Regardless of satisfactory conditions and collateral or CGCC’s guarantees, the banks would not lend, and CGCC cannot guarantee if the borrowers cannot prove that they can repay the loans. So how can the borrower justify the “capacity” to repay? Again, this is when a reliable business plan and financial record can come into play. A proper financial statement tells the borrower’s assets, liabilities, equity, income, and cash flow which are reliable sources to evaluate the repayment capacity. Plus, the business plan describes the future business trajectory in which future income can also be used to justify the repayment capacity.

 

Capital

5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!
5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

If banks provide business loans, they want to know how much own “capital” the borrower put into the business. This matters because it shows the borrower’s commitment to the company where the loan proceeds will be used. It shows “skin in the game.” How can the borrower master this? The proper financial record should show the owner’s equity in the business. Official supporting documents such as partnership agreement and company registration are valid evidence of the borrower’s investment in the company. Usually, banks find it more challenging to assess informal or unregistered businesses because they lack reliable sources of the document to validate their creditworthiness. That is why businesses are encouraged to register to improve their access to finance.

Character

5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!
5 important things SMEs should understand to apply for guaranteed loans!

Another criterion to prove the repayment capacity is the “Character” of the borrower. Notably, banks investigate the borrower’s credit records, including loan repayment history, number of loans, and current loan outstanding, etc. The primary purpose is to assess the borrower’s trustworthiness. Currently, Cambodia Credit Bureau (CBC) provides comprehensive credit reporting on individuals and businesses, which is helpful for banks to evaluate the borrower’s character. However, in some instances, if your credit records are not favorable, you need to strengthen other Cs to convince the banks. For example, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, many businesses face challenges leading to late debt repayment and loan default, adversely impacting their “Character” and “Capital.” In this case, to get loans, the borrowers need to demonstrate a solid business plan which can improve “Condition” and “Capacity” and utilize CGCC’s credit guarantees which can improve “Collateral.”

 

As we can see, the 5Cs – condition, collateral, capacity, capital, and character – are important factors that banks evaluate the borrowers before deciding to lend. Improving the 5Cs increases the chance of getting loans from banks. A reliable financial statement and business plan can be used to validate every Cs, while a credit guarantee can help address the “Collateral” issue.

Give Non-Collateral a chance! Credit Guarantee Mechanisms and Benefits for Banks, MFIs and Businesses

Download the Full article in PDF: Give Non-Collateral a chance! 

Lack of collateral is the main challenge for businesses in Cambodia to get loans. The Royal Government of Cambodia established the Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) to address this challenge. With credit guarantees, borrowing without collateral is no longer impossible. For CGCC to yield the benefits requires a good understanding from relevant stakeholders about how it works.

Simply put, CGCC provides credit guarantees to share the credit risk with the banks on loans made to businesses. In other words, the banks can claim from CGCC if the guaranteed loan defaults. There are two main types of credit guarantee – individual guarantee whereby the guarantee covers individual loans and portfolio guarantee whereby the guarantee covers a portfolio consisting of multiple loans. Since CGCC itself is not a lending institution, it currently collaborates with banks and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) that are the participating financial institutions (PFIs) to provide guaranteed loans to businesses. As a government-backed institution with adequate capital in its account, CGCC is set to provide a wide range of guarantees on loans disbursed to Cambodian-owned businesses across the country.

 

Why should the lender need the credit guarantee?

Give Non-Collateral a chance! Credit Guarantee Mechanisms and Benefits for Banks, MFIs and Businesses
Give Non-Collateral a chance! Credit Guarantee Mechanisms and Benefits for Banks, MFIs and Businesses

When lending, banks normally protect themselves by requiring collateral from the borrowers. When the borrower cannot repay the loan, the banks liquidate the collaterals to cover the loss. If the required collateral is not sufficient, the bank is unlikely to lend. The collateral requirement becomes more stringent, especially during times of uncertainty such as the COVID-19 Pandemic, because businesses are perceived to be riskier, and banks become more risk-averse. Now with CGCC, the banks can protect themselves with the credit guarantee instead of the collaterals. Currently, CGCC provides credit guarantees up to 80% of the outstanding loan principal which means that the bank bears the remaining 20% of the loss if the loan defaults. The credit guarantee empowers banks to remain competitive in the market and to lend out more to underserved borrowers who lack collaterals, what is referred to as “credit additionality.”

 

Why should the borrower need the credit guarantee?

Give Non-Collateral a chance! Credit Guarantee Mechanisms and Benefits for Banks, MFIs and Businesses
Give Non-Collateral a chance! Credit Guarantee Mechanisms and Benefits for Banks, MFIs and Businesses

Credit guarantees increase the borrowing capacity. CGCC provides guarantees that act as collateral on the borrower’s behalf. Needless to say, CGCC cannot be beneficial for every business. By all means, if the business has sufficient collateral and the ability to repay the loan, the chance is that such a business does not need a credit guarantee, and the bank would also be happy to lend even without CGCC’s guarantee. However, it is common that a potential business with the ability to repay the loan is unable to borrow because of insufficient collateral. Businesses simply cannot pledge the collateral on every loan they wish to borrow. The collateral is limited. This is a huge loss to the business and the economy as a whole. With the required loan, the business could have generated more income, employed more workers, and produced goods or services that contribute to the economic growth of the country. When CGCC provides guarantees to the banks, the borrowers now have easier access to loans from the banks because the banks are willing to lend more with less collateral requirement.

Credit guarantees are used by many countries as a policy tool to improve access to finance and financial inclusion. However, never before has a credit guarantee corporation been incorporated in Cambodia. According to the World Bank, “Public credit guarantee schemes (CGSs) are a common form of government intervention to unlock finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). More than half of all countries in the world have a CGS for SMEs and the number is growing.” While many credit guarantee schemes have proved successful in supporting the SMEs, many have also failed.

It is still early to assess how far and how fast CGCC can support the businesses. CGCC must continue to strengthen credibility, efficiency, and transparency and adhere to the best practices including the World Bank’s principles for public credit guarantee schemes for SMEs to gain trust and support from all relevant stakeholders. What is also important at this stage is that all the players understand and start to utilize the credit guarantees for the right purposes.

CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”

On 17 September 2022, CGCC and Maybank Cambodia co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme” at Maybank Tower, participated by more than 50 SME entrepreneurs to provide business support instruments and technical advisory based on international best practices to support SME growth, productivity and innovation, as well as enhance competitiveness for SMEs.

Mr. No Lida, Deputy CEO of CGCC, remarks on the importance of this program for SMEs beyond the cooperation between CGCC and Maybank Cambodia, and Mr. Duk Sarak, Head of Community Financial Services of Maybank Cambodia, relayed the opening remark for the event. SME participants had the opportunity to learn about the topic of “Business Registration in Cambodia” from SokSiphana & Associates, “The Importance of Financial Discipline for SMEs” from Acclime Cambodia, “Access to Finance and Guarantee Scheme” from Maybank Cambodia.

CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”

Upon the collaboration on providing loans with credit guarantee, on November 2021, CGCC and Maybank Cambodia also co-organized the Business Forum on “Supporting SME Businesses in Cambodia” to discuss more details about the possibility of collaboration on how to support SMEs for greater access to finance despite collateral issue and the support of SME’s capacity Building and long-term growth.

CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”
CGCC and Maybank Co-organized the “SME Building Capacity and Capability (BCC) Programme”