NEWSROOM

The share of financial instruments used by SMEs, which constitute 99.8% of enterprises in Turkey, corresponds to approximately one-third of total business loans. Stating that the rate is low compared to the market size, experts argue that there are inadequacies in financial risk management behind this situation.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.

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ISTANBUL (TR) - Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute an essential part of the business world in Turkey. According to the research conducted by KOSGEB, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey and the Turkish Statistical Institute, SMEs constitute 99.8% of all enterprises in our country. SMEs' turnover, which contributes 72% of employment, corresponds to almost half (49.4%) of the total turnover of enterprises in Turkey. On the other hand, according to the Finance of SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2022 report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the share of loans used by SMEs in total business loans is 30.8%. Based on these data, technology company Nef Solution announced that they had launched a risk management platform called Fincheckup.ai so that, especially small and medium-sized enterprises can better use financial instruments and achieve a sustainable growth momentum.

Derya Sarıkayalar, the business strategy partner of Fincheckup.ai, who shared her assessments on the subject, said, “When we read the data, we see that SMEs have difficulties in accessing loans and similar financial instruments and resources, although their impact on the economy and employment of our country is quite high. We think that behind this lies the unhealthy financial data of businesses that cannot allocate a budget for high-cost financial management systems. Fincheckup.ai is a risk management platform designed for SMEs to create a sustainable finance framework, gain competitive advantage, and predict risk and success situations.”

Democratizing financial data

Emphasizing that the managers' inability to obtain sufficient insight into the financials of the enterprises and the mistakes made in the financial statements are the factors that make it difficult for SMEs to access financial instruments such as loans, Derya Sarıkayalar said, "All of these lead to consequences such as lack of capital, deterioration of cash balance and failure to achieve sustainable growth. Unless intervened, SMEs may even face the risk of bankruptcy. Taking advantage of strategic financial risk management and early warning systems is possible by using financial risk management tools to eliminate bad scenarios in a time of global economic uncertainty. End-to-end financial risk management platform Fincheckup.ai, by blending financial engineering and statistical science, aims to enable SMEs to detect risks and successes with an early warning system, improve cash management, create a sustainable finance framework and democratize financial data.”

Financial institutions can also benefit

Drawing attention to the fact that the application was developed with thousands of smart algorithms, Derya Sarıkayalar said, “Thanks to the scoring structure and financial analysis reports in the system, SMEs can reach the results related to the risk perception and perspective of financial institutions within minutes. Businesses can also follow the risk situations in their sector with comparative reports. Financial institutions serving SMEs can also quickly analyze the financial risks of their customers requesting loans through the system. In this way, loan demands of SMEs are completed faster, and access to financial instruments becomes easier.”

“We aim to contribute to the financial literacy of SMEs”

Underlining that they are positioned as a financial technology company providing digital financial coaching services in the sector, Fincheckup.ai business strategy partner Derya Sarıkayalar concluded her evaluations with the following words: “We act as a bridge between SMEs and financial institutions. We aim to determine the risks correctly, determine the needs easily for both parties, and shorten the path to the result in SME financing. Strengthening the ecosystem by increasing data transparency between financial institutions and SMEs and democratizing financial statements while taking the financial literacy of SMEs a few steps further are among our goals.”