Overview

SME Banking 3.0 is focused on helping the bankers involved with SME borrowers. This includes both line bankers at the customer relationship level and credit specialists overseeing lending decisions. As well, specialists in marketing, sales, product development and training who are involved in a bank’s SME service line can better understand. SME Banking 3.0 systematically develops staff skills to evaluate both qualitative and quantitative factors and assess the creditworthiness of a small business borrower which is typically unable to provide much in the way of either formal financial reporting information or tangible collateral security. Lenders must find creative ways to detect debt service capacity all the while screening out unsavory risks. This two-day course is taught by a seasoned industry practitioner in a highly inter-active setting that includes exercises, case studies and group discussions with your peers.

• Overview of the logic of credit: rational thinking decision frameworks
• Learning to use both hard and soft information in credit judgment
• Grasping fundamental drivers of success and risk in various industry sectors
• Assessing management capabilities and judging their commercial “street smarts”
• Quantifying debt service capacityfrom cash flow generation
• Understanding where the borrower is coming from : financial management principles.
• Structuring: Working capital revolvers & capital expenditure term loans
• Honing communication skills to articulate a lending rational in credit write-ups

In the spirit of an inter-active workshop, the instructor will encourage the sharing of ideas by participants who are expected to bring their own contributions to the sessions.

Who should attend

SME Banking 3.0 puts Delegates in the role of the lending banker dealing directly with SME borrowers. It is “transactional” oriented workshop with a primary focus on the origination and recovery of individual SME loans. It places particular attention on the idiosyncratic aspect of SME borrowers by understanding their distinctive banking needs, true financial performance and status (in the face of opaque reporting), indsutry risks and management’s strengths and weaknesses. Emphasis is placed on nurturing a SME banker’s essential skills: commercial common sense, 'street smarts' , ability to grasps the significance of financial numbers and prudent decision-making. While its primary value is for SME bankers on the line function, staff functions involved with a SME portfolio can also benefit:

• SME customer relationship officer
• SME credit officer
• SME selling staff
• Branch & regional managers overseeing SME markets
• Credit portfolio supervisors
• Head office product development specialists
• Internal auditors (SME portfolios)
• Credit risk management experts
• SME strategic advisers
• Trainers interested in delivering SME courses

Key Learning Objectives

• APPRECIATE how business reality is reflected and not reflected in financial reports
• IDENTIFY a business’s KSF – key survival factors – that SMEs must be focused on
• CONSTRUCT sources of financial information using proxy information
• ASSESS the skills and capabilities of small business managers/owners
• INTERPRET the real meaning of financial statement figures
• FORECAST debt service capacity to gauge how much debt a business can prudently carry
• FIND alternatives to collateral security that is less available from small business borrowers
• INTEGRATE financial and non-financial risk factors
• TAKE CONTROL of your lending destiny by “hands-on” monitoring and control measures
• BUILD SME portfolio volumes through consultative selling
• CRAFT a credible case for lending money to a business enterprise

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