By Dk Suria Rina PHA
Since 1980 there are many changes
in the way banks in Brunei do business and they are changing
because of fierce competition among the banks, new technologies
(computerisation), higher operational expenses, increasing bad
debts (recession), and re-packing products and services. This
observation was made by Borneans Business Services.
Thus, a workshop to tackle the
SMEs problem in seeking financial assistance for business will
be held at Riverview Hotel, Gadong on April 19-20, 2003.
According to Mr Peter Lim Yeow
Boo, a retired senior banker, these actions have affected the
SMEs as banks moved from "Relationship Banking" to
"Cash Flow Banking".
To prevent and contain bad
debts, banks started to impose many stricter controls such as
emphasise repayment from cash flow rather than from profits,
rely more on cash flow for repayment rather than on value of
securities, short term commitment is preferred to long term
commitment, re-value securities on forced sales terms rather
than willing buyer terms, set up legal department to deal with
securing documentation etc, set up credit administration
department as a dual control to lending department, attempt to
reduce outstanding debts, attempt to earn from fee based revenue
rather than form interest, move towards retail lending rather
than corporate lending and also introduce instant approval
system for all retail lending facilities.
He told the Bulletin that its
mission is to enhance the effectiveness of the locals in
entrepreneurship skills through programme that supports high
academic standards by working with well-known and established
institutions - the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI)
and Institute Bank Malaysia.
He added that SMEs must
therefore prepare to cope with the demanding requirements of the
banks by maintaining up to date "financials", be more
prepared to open the business plans for discussion, good control
of stocks in trade, good control of debtors and creditors, delay
purchase of fixed assets, attempt to generate plenty of cash and
also defer withdrawals from the business.
He expressed confidence that
with this commitment, it can achieve the objective to bring a
better understanding of the issue of seeking finance for
business from the banks.
The Borneans Business Services
(BBS) was registered in Brunei in April 2000 to help locals
enhance entrepreneurship skills by conducting business awareness
programmes.
Mr Lim, the managing partner of
BBS, has contributed and participated in the programmes of the
Young Enterprise Scheme, sponsored by BSP, Life after Shell,
Live Wire, Job Start and also by the IDBB for the specifically
designed programmes.
For more information on the
workshop, interested parties may call the Borneans Business
Services on tel: 2222579.
|
