Typically, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) transacting global business face the strongest obstacles in accessing financing on affordable terms. Around the world, SME business leaders point to the availability of finance as a major barrier to their capacity to trade.

This finance gap is of particular concern because SMEs are a leading driver of trade, economic development, and employment. According to World Bank estimates, formal SMEs (legally registered businesses) contribute up to 45% of total employment and up to 33% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies. Those numbers are significantly higher when informal SMEs (businesses that are not legally registered) are included.

In the US, nearly 6m businesses are considered small. According to the US Census Bureau: “Small- and medium-sized companies (those employing fewer than 500 workers, including number of employees unknown) comprised 97.7% of all identified exporters and 97.1% of all identified importers.”