UNDP, MAS and partners launch financing initiative for MSMEs

The initiative proposes a framework assessing MSMEs' financing worthiness.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and the SME Finance Forum have launched the Universal Trusted Credentials (UTC) initiative aiming to improve micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) access to financing.

The UTC initiative proposes a framework that identifies an MSME’s financing worthiness based on traditional and alternative data sets, namely source data and derived data.

It will also focus on building the capacity of MSMEs and improving access to data and financing through collaborations in key emerging markets.

“The UTC represents a game-changing opportunity to augment the traditional collateral or asset-backed financing that almost all MSMEs face, towards a holistic approach that includes self-owned non-financial and financial credentials that each MSME should possess,” Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer for MAS said.