A whirlwind tour around the finance globe offers some interesting news and statistics. Trade finance showed the biggest drop in the finance world for the first half of 2016. The glut in trade finance was attributed to declining commodities volume and market volatility.
In the UAE, SMEs are facing liquidity problems and are fleeing the Emirates to avoid banks and utility repayments. It is hoped that new bankruptcy legislation could curb the trend. Meanwhile, although a large majority of SMEs in the U.K. are granted bank loans, more businesses are self-funding and turning to alternative financing, implying that Brexit has not affected small business confidence levels. In Singapore, many SMEs are underbanked and have no access to bank loans. On the domestic front, Microsoft has surpassed Salesforce in global SaaS revenues.
Here is the data:
$3.7 billion | The amount of revenues in trade finance earned by the world’s top 12 banks in the first half of 2016, a drop of 9 percent compared to the first half of 2015
239 | The number of businesses that have fled the UAE to escape loan and supplier payments between July 2015 and March 2016, according to insurance agency Coface
80% | The number of U.K. small businesses that apply for a bank loan and get accepted, according to BDRC Continental
40% | The number of Singapore SMEs who don’t have access to a bank loan, according to Deloitte
15% | The percentage of global SaaS revenues that went to Microsoft, according to Synergy Research Group
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