Microcredit financing in micro and small Uruguayan companies

Abstract

Micro and small enterprises (MYSES)represent the vast majority of the Uruguayan productive fabric, generating almost half of the country's labor force. Access to credit by these institutions is crucial to ensure their sustainability and enhance their contribution to economic activity. Traditionally, however, these companies were excluded from traditional bank financing. The sources of financing were usually made up of own funds and non-bank credit, such as microcredits provided by microfinance institutions. In 2014, the Financial Inclusion Law gives companies with a reduced economic dimension access to a bank account and a set of basic financial services free of charge, in order to promote and support the process of financial inclusion of the MYPES. On the one hand, these rules provoke a re-dimensioning of the credit market, making it possible for banking institutions to provide microcredit to MYPEs. On the other hand, the increased competition in this market creates the opportunity for microfinance institutions to increase efficiency in their management, improving their system of granting and managing loans to MYPES, allowing to reflection on the application of credit scoring tools to assess credit risk in these institutions.