Certified Expert in SME Finance

The introduction to the course starts with positioning SME Finance compared to other client segments, e.g. corporate clients or retail clients. The learning goal of the course is to explain the main SME Finance principles, mainly focusing on credit risk analysis, the lending decision process and appropriate risk-taking intermediation as well as customer relationship management. SME businesses face a number of specific risks in their business but SME lending is a profitable business for many MFIs and banks that use the right methodology –cash flow based lending- and appropriate decision making tools.

Understanding the challenges that small and medium business owners are facing is fundamental to the provision of excellent service and achieving good credit decisions.

• SMEs require specific financial services and products according to their comparably small size and often limited scope.
• SMEs sometimes operate in informal or semi-formal environments; access to reliable (or even audited) financial data is therefore often limited.
• Since audited financial statements and sound business planning may not be available, the financial institution has to analyze the situation of the client carefully and verify verbal or internal statements.
• Once data is gathered and verified, lending decisions can be taken based on financial considerations and depending on risk appetite.

• Unit 1: Introduction to SME Finance
• Unit 2: SME Credit Analysis - Collecting and Understanding Information
• Unit 3: SME Credit Analysis - Verifying Information
• Unit 4: SME Credit Analysis - Financial Analysis
• Unit 5: SME Credit Analysis - Cash Flow Analysis
• Unit 6: Loan Portfolio Management and Monitoring
• Unit 7: Supporting Activities and Strategy