Singapore banks boost support for micro businesses

Singapore

SINGAPORE banks have ramped up support for micro enterprises with collateral-free loans, they said on Wednesday.

OCBC told The Business Times the bank has to date worked with close to 6,000 micro and small businesses with collateral-free loans totalling over S$1 billion. Linus Goh, OCBC's head of global commercial banking, said half of these were to customers that did not have borrowing facilities with the bank. "In the second half of this year, we have observed some early signs of green shoots in certain industries and businesses, with a growing interest in new loans to support these opportunities."