Finding help for ailing companies - News - Jamaica Gleaner - Sunday | May 13, 2012

Finding help for ailing companies - News - Jamaica Gleaner - Sunday | May 13, 2012: "To convert the post-Jamaica Debt Exchange relatively low-cost stock of cash held by financial services institutions into liquidity, a range of approaches were used to encourage these institutions to reduce the interest rates to their customers.

The most fundamental policy move to realising liquidity for the real/productivity sectors was the licensing of credit bureaus.

The intended purpose of credit bureaus is to aid financial services firms in their assessment of risk, thereby increasing the likelihood of credit facilities being extended to individuals, sole proprietors, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises."

A secondary benefit of the credit bureau regime is that it would encourage business formation 

so that these firms may enter legal arrangements and access a wider range of financing solutions.

Access to affordable financing is most definitely a key enabler in any growth strategy for the country.

It is our contention that the investment regulations covering pension funds should be reviewed to increase the pool of available funds to invest in a broader class of assets than currently permitted.

attractive opportunities

Once these investment regulations are relaxed, we would then need businesses and entrepreneurs to package feasible and attractive opportunities for pension funds through tradable corporate bonds or investments that may be pursued through venture capital funding.

This is by no means a magic bullet, but it is one answer to the problem of limited and unaffordable financing for business start-up and expansion.

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