Mr. Satoshi Kuwahara, President of the Credit Risk Database (CRD) Association in Japan, spoke at ERIA on 25 January 2016, on how a credit risk database can support a country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs play an important role in Japan's economy, said Mr. Kuwahara. To assist their development the CRD Association was established to provide a credit rating service on SMEs for lending agencies through which banks can differentiate loan-worthy SMEs from those deemed incapable of securing loans.

The goals of the CRD Association are to: (i) facilitate the fund provision to SMEs in Japan, (ii) improve the quality of risk management in finance, and (iii) manage the database in a fair manner.

To advance SME financing in the Southeast Asian region, ASEAN should create a database similar to that of the CRD in Japan, said Mr. Kuwahara.

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