Are banks in the UAE supporting SMEs? | Crossfire Debate EP 08

Debate discusses how small and medium sized companies in the UAE fare in relation to access to funding.

[fahadh]

Amazing discussion...ended up watching the whole thing

[khalidmibrahi]

thank you for providing such a topic, there are alot of thing missing for supporting SME spacficly for new business banks are asking not resonable thing in order to open an acount . i will suggest to have another session of the same topipics showining the obstecals of coperating with bank for SME

[venkatpisipaty]

Well done AB. To be honest I had stopped watching for a few weeks but must say this was amongst your best & Shruti was bang on with the questions & the way she handled the discussions. Was good to see the Bank representative pushed a bit on some points & absolutely loved his reaction when he was pushed on the example of the businessman who had to flee given his circumstances where the bank wasn't willing to help. To be fair while most of us would love to demonize banks & sympathise with the SME underdogs, it's very true that Banks do not sit on an easy chair. My respect for Banks like Emirates NBD has only gone up given their fantastic profitability in this difficult period. The other gentleman makes a valid point as well in that AED 100 million as Govt credit for SME lending is indeed a drop in the ocean. Really hoping to see more coming through from the fund if even 25% of the grand alternate segment growth vision is to be achieved. Thank you again AB, very well done indeed!
Request you to feature a session on the manufacturing sector in the UAE & the challenges & opportunities that new investments would have in the country.