On December 9, Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC), jointly organized a webinar on “Movable Asset Finance for MSBEs in Nepal”.
The program started with an opening remarks from Mr. Anil Kumar Upadhyay, President, NBA and Mr. Babacar S. Faye, Resident Representative, IFC.
In the opening remarks, Mr. Upadhyay highlighted upon the importance of MSMEs and the role it can play in the economy. He highlighted some of the possible positive aspects of movable asset financing and the possibility of NBA to coordinate with IFC for the betterment of the industry and to align it with international standards. He also shared the importance of SME is also felt by the regulators and provisions are already incorporated in the policy for mandatory lending. He thanked IFC for the collaboration on Movable Asset Finance for MSMEs webinar.
Mr. Faye also shared how the MSMEs are more reliant on their assets and equipment as their collateral and the need of financial sector to support them as they have an important role to play in the advancement of economy. He welcomed the ongoing collaboration between two organizations and expected to have many more in the days ahead.
During the program, Mr. Jinchang Lai, Principal Operations Officer, FIG Advisory, Asia and Pacific, IFC shared a presentation on “Why banks need to develop movable asset lending?”.
The program was valued added by a discussion session attended by EC Member and CEO Sunrise Bank Ltd Mr. Suman Sharma, Mr. Lin Huang, Senior Operations Officer, FIG Advisory, Asia and Pacific, IFC and Mr. Rajendra Luitel, Operations Officer, FIG Advisory, Asia and Pacific, IFC. Mr. Sharma shared how the banking industry is still more comfortable on traditional collateral-based lending and the reasons behind why banks are hesitant to project financing. He also shared on change which has been observed on recent times and how the project based financing is gathering pace and banks are supporting them. The session provided essential knowledge and insights into various aspects that Banks need to develop movable asset lending with their benefits to both banks and MSMEs in Nepal.
There was a participation of Head of Credit, Head of SME/Microfinance Banking, Head of Risk Department, among others from the member banks.
