Access to Finance for Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Modern Reality

Small-and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in many countries nowadays face financial shortages and challenges in attracting new financial resources. In today’s new reality technologies and innovative business models become crucial for increasing access to financial services and enhancing long-term economic growth. Digital technologies have been actively developing even before the pandemic of COVID-19. However, during the lockdown and the economic crisis caused by the pandemic the development of digital platforms has accelerated. Digital commerce and payments have become much more significant in the first half of 2020. That fact stimulated many SMEs to improve their digital capabilities. The “new” reality motivates the enterprises to use big data analysis and artificial intelligence in decision making process. The modern technologic capabilities are used in two directions. The first direction is the digitalization of organizational aspects of SMEs activities, for instance, transferring business meetings and conferences into online forms. The second one, which is even more important, suggests financial digitalization. This means using digital technologies to attract financial resources for business needs. Financial digitalization requires some specific measures, including improving the existing mechanisms of traditional loan financing through the use of new technologies and big data analysis; stimulating closer interaction between financial institutions and SMEs; drafting appropriate legislation to regulate the digital financial technologies sphere.