Interest rates decrease, why are business households still struggling to access capital?

DNHN - In the context of economic growth, access to loans is crucial for business households. Despite the decrease in interest rates, many business households face difficulties in accessing capital.

In reality, loan interest rates have shown a downward trend recently, thanks to the State's monetary policy management and competition among banks. However, for small and medium business households, accessing capital remains very challenging. There are several main reasons for this situation.

Business households typically face higher risks compared to large enterprises. This causes banks to assess credit risks as high and require collateral to secure loans. For business households, providing enough collateral to secure a loan becomes difficult, especially when the collateral is often the personal assets of the business owner.

Business households often lack information and the ability to promote their business activities. This makes it difficult for banks to accurately assess their repayment ability and growth potential. The lack of information and promotional ability also makes it hard for business households to attract interest from investors or financial institutions.

Loan procedures at banks are often complex and time-consuming. Business households usually do not have the resources and skills to handle these complex procedures, from preparing documents, negotiating, to resolving additional requirements from banks. Prolonged processing time also reduces the flexibility and quick access to capital for business households.

The State needs to introduce financial support policies specifically for small and medium business households. This can include providing loans with preferential interest rates, reducing collateral requirements, and creating favorable conditions for business households to access capital.

There needs to be an increase in the provision of information about capital sources and loan procedures for business households. At the same time, it is necessary to train and support business households in financial management skills, preparing loan documents, and performing related procedures.

In addition to bank capital, the development of alternative financing forms such as joint venture capital, public investment funds, and small and medium enterprise support funds should be encouraged. This will expand capital sources and increase access to capital for business households.

It is necessary to create a favorable environment for business households to cooperate with financial institutions, investors, and other enterprises. This cooperation can help business households access capital, share risks, and increase development potential.

Accordingly, Vietcombank has allocated about 20% of its loan portfolio to small and medium enterprises, including small traders, showing an awareness of the importance of small traders in the bank's operations. However, to access this capital, small traders face many stringent requirements and conditions, especially regarding collateral.

VPBank has also led in building systems and resources to promote unsecured loans for small traders. However, the scale development of this product is not as expected due to issues related to credit risk and suboptimal management.

Currently, finance companies such as FECredit, EVNFinance, and SHBFinance have product groups for unsecured loans to small traders with simple procedures and no collateral required. However, there are still many challenges such as high-interest rates and poorly controlled portfolio quality.

Although loan interest rates have decreased, accessing capital remains a challenge for business households. To address this issue, there needs to be policy support, increased information and training, development of alternative financing forms, and strengthened multilateral cooperation. Only when these measures are implemented can business households access capital and develop sustainably in the future.

Nguyen An