Standard Chartered, accounting software firm Misa join hands to finance SMEs

Standard Chartered Vietnam and MISA JSC, the provider of accounting software Misa, launched a strategic partnership on Friday to offer unsecured invoice financing facilities to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

Via MISA Lending Platform, the solution provides a highly competitive interest rate and straight-forward process for SMEs in manufacturing, trading, and service sectors that require financing against e-invoices issued by them to meet their working capital requirements, which in turn supports their business growth.

The products were piloted on MISA Lending from end-2022 with preferential interest rates of from 9%, while SMEs could receive the approval-in-principle results within 30 minutes. Over 300 SMEs have access Standard Chartered loans from the program.

This partnership combines MISA’s pioneering application of cloud-based technologies to simplify and improve the efficiency of their clients’ processes with Standard Chartered’s global expertise in business banking and financing to deliver significant value to their clients.

"This strategic partnership with MISA has allowed us to provide financing to SMEs, which is critical in Vietnam, in an efficient and meaningful way. We will continue to work to deepen the suite of products needed to increase the viability of SMEs, which will ultimately impact the grassroots of society," said Michele Wee, CEO of Standard Chartered Vietnam.

According to the annual Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2022, 55.6% of businesses had problems in accessing capitals, while only 17.8% of firms fulfilled conditions to borrow credit, with having no collaterals as the biggest barriers for SMEs to access loans.