Partnering with SMEs Throughout the Pandemic

PARTNERING WITH SMES

THROUGHOUT THE PANDEMIC

OUR COMMITMENT TO SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES THROUGHOUT THE PANDEMIC

Financial year 2020/2021, a year like none other, was hard on families, schools, churches and businesses. As we all sought to navigate government implemented measures aimed at arresting the spread of COVID-19, many small and medium businesses wrestled with reducing, managing and, in some cases, closing their operations entirely. Our strategy as a Group placed key emphasis on protecting clients’ goals and for small and medium enterprises. We were acutely aware that this would mean extra coaching and support, tangible resource support and an unwavering commitment to partnership and redefining the way businesses are supported at every stage of their life cycle. With this, our teams across the region pivoted our strategy and operations in order to partner with, and meet the needs of our SME clients during the difficult period.

CLIENT PROTECTION & PARTNERSHIP

For the first half of the year, our focus was squarely on ensuring the safety of our teams as they partnered with clients remotely, in branch and via the Group’s Resource Centre. With the many constraints imposed due to capacity and movement restrictions, our initiatives focused on ensuring that our onboarding process was easy and that our client support framework was robust, accessible digitally and the process of doing business with us was improved. We also ensured our teams were equipped through continuous training to deliver advisory services, coaching and support to clients at differing stages of their business’ life cycle as they adjusted during the period. Most importantly, noting that debt financing would be critical for businesses as their business models shifted and their revenues were affected, we continued work on refining our credit adjudication framework to ensure that financing is more accessible for businesses at differing life cycle stages.

EASY CLIENT ONBOARDING AND IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH US IMPROVED DIGITAL SERVICES, SOLUTIONS AND ACCESSIBILITY MAKING IT EASIER TO ACCESS DEBT FINANCING

PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION – JMMB GROUP SME RESOURCE CENTRE

The Group’s Resource Centre was a particularly important channel during the period as it remained a critical touch point for clients and was the source of a wealth of information and provided access to tools to help clients scale and manage their operations. Having officially launched in Jamaica in May 2020 and in Trinidad in July 2020, the Resource Centre team, who received a collective 96.5% client satisfaction rating during the year, was able to:

• Successfully launch SME Pulse newsletter and issue four (4) publications for the year

• Successfully execute 25 virtual events and take part in 56 external events aimed at supporting businesses in a variety of areas from funding options, to tax management financial reports and corporate governance

• Complete 146 Comprehensive Needs Assessments on clients which will help them plan and execute the next steps for the growth of their businesses

• Successfully launch the SME directory with 76 clients; these clients will now have access to a platform to widely market their products and services

• Refer 330 clients internally to the Group for solutions which specifically met their investment and banking needs, 116 clients to partners of the

SME Resource Centre to assist with non-financial needs and on-boarded 16 partners in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago who will offer business development support and resources.

COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS

Financial Year 2020/21 marked the first full year of our revised in-branch partnership structure and supporting SME relationship units in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. We are encouraged by the progress made as the country teams achieved strong results and were able to execute and launch critical initiatives aimed at improving access to financing. JAMAICA

In addition to an intense focus on partnership and coaching clients through the many challenges they faced due to government imposed curfews and movement restrictions, the Jamaica team quickly designed and implemented a COVID-19 Relief Package aimed at relieving the pressure of loan payments and offering financing options at reduced rates.

In executing this, the Unit which is spread across the JMMB Bank (JA) Ltd. branch network, reached out to all clients in the portfolio and designed tailored solutions based on each client’s need inclusive of external debt consolidation and moratoriums where appropriate and needed. The team also continued to target high potential clients who were positively to largely unaffected by the pandemic. These included gas/service stations, pharmacies and companies who provided procurement services to the government. As restrictions were relaxed, clients who were negatively impacted showed increasing willingness to proceed with their growth plans and our teams have been engaging with them to revise, restart and/or augment their goals. Through the teams’ consistent outreach and support during the period, they were able to close the year with $1.79B in disbursements and with Funds under Management (FUM) of $643.5M.

IMPROVING ACCESS TO FINANCE

On a national scale, our team has been actively playing a role in improving the landscape for accessing financing solutions for small businesses. In 2019, the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ) launched its Access to Finance Facilitation Panel (AFFP) whose aim is to dramatically transform the local financing ecosystem to foster the growth of small businesses in Jamaica. Our team has played an integral role in the programme as both the head of the Group’s Resource Centre and SME Relationship Specialist at JMMB Bank (JA) Ltd. sit on the project team and have provided support on various work streams. As the devastating impact of COVID-19 began to unfold at the beginning of the financial year, the AFFP pivoted and began to focus on critical factors

for businesses to overcome COVID-19 successfully. To support this, our team stepped in with sponsorship of the progamme’s Digital Conferences, participated at events held by the programme. They were also guests on the largely successful COVIDCAST JA.

Another big win in improving access to financing was the work done to revise our credit adjudication process. Several changes were made to improve turnaround time and our assessment methodology including: JAMAICA HIGHLIGHTS

NEW SOLUTIONS FOR PARTNERING IN 2021 AND BEYOND

In the coming year, we anticipate the formal launch of our EXIM Bank Loan Guarantee Programme which is a solution that mobilises financing for SMEs who do not have adequate collateral or security to support funding applications. Lastly, we will continue work on our proposal to provide preferential terms to SME customers of heavy-duty equipment through IMCA Jamaica Ltd., partner with associations to provide preferential rates for their members in addition to continuing to work on a Reverse Factoring platform product with the Development Bank of Jamaica.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Much like Jamaica, many of our clients in Trinidad and Tobago were forced to reduce their operations or close their doors due to movement restrictions and regulations implemented to control the spread of the

COVID-19 virus. The team, however, remained focused on delivering a full suite of partnership and support services.

To improve service delivery, the previously launched stand-alone SME Unit was absorbed into JMMB Bank (TT) Ltd.’s Business Banking unit. This team now has a complement of 12 members inclusive of a new Head of Business Banking who now resides at our Head Office in Chaguanas. With the move, the team was able to revamp its database of clients and allocate portfolios to all relationship managers to ensure each client was matched personally and appropriately based on their size and industry. Most importantly, by staying close to clients during the period and providing tailored solutions to meet their needs, the team was able to close the financial year with $133M TTD in disbursements and making significant progress in the reduction of delinquency. The team also successfully launched a commercial mortgage campaign which includes attractive terms and will be augmented with a new Insurance Premium Financing product in the coming financial year.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO HIGHLIGHTS NEW SOLUTIONS, PROCESSES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO BETTER PARTNER WITH SMES

In the coming financial year, the team will continue its work to create more needs-based solutions inclusive of an attractive insurance premium financing solution to complement our new commercial mortgage product. In an effort to make doing business easier with us, we will also be reviewing our processes to ensure that loan applications are reviewed quickly and efficiently. The team will also meet with all major trading groups and agencies to harness opportunities. These will include InvesTT, ExporTT, the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) and the Supermarkets Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT), among others and continue to our focus on building out mutual opportunities and better solutions to meet client needs.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

In the Dominican Republic, the team maintained its focus on creating tailored solutions to meet the needs of SMEs in specific sectors, improving the team’s productivity and establishing a more dominant presence in the market.

As with clients in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, our clients in the Dominican Republic faced much disruption to their operations. Many had to scale down and lay off staff while others closed their doors entirely due to the impact of the extended island wide restrictions implemented to control the spread of COVID-19. Seeing this and its potential impact on the vulnerable and our target sectors, the team sprung into action and started a program of virtual visits to exporting companies of agricultural and meat producers to offer debt consolidation solutions given that for many, their revenues had been affected and would continue to be affected for an undefined period. This focus proved fruitful as eighteen (18) commercial SMEs successfully consolidated debt while others received critical additional working capital to keep their businesses afloat.

Adding to the suite of innovative solutions built in the last year, the team continued to develop alternate financing solutions for solar panels, medical equipment, inventory collateral and construction loans via trusts. These additional solutions contributed US$3.4M to total disbursements.

In the true spirit of partnership, the team selected a group of young baseball players to provide financial advice and support in the management of their funds and investments in businesses. In addition to the relationships forged, the team achieved a 50% conversion rate of this service as they brought on new

clients from this group.

The team also recognized that given their limited branch network reach outside of Santiago and Santo Domingo, they had to focus on finding innovative ways to support clients in provinces where JMMB does not currently have a presence. Through the use of technology to extend our reach, this initiative yielded success as the team was able to assist in the provision of loans to businesses of US$1M in disbursements. The team also bolstered their reach and support by engaging a private university to give finance lectures to entrepreneurs across the country, a further value-addition for SMEs and our clients across the country. Internal expertise was also improved as the partnership team received critical training on the formalization and structuring of commercial loans.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HIGHLIGHTS LOOKING AHEAD, PARTNERSHIP WITH SMES IN THE DR 2021 AND BEYOND

Work on the execution of our SME strategy in the DR will kick into high gear in the coming year as the team continues to work towards implementation of the Group’s standard core banking platform, Temenos, as well as the Group’s online banking platform, Moneyline. This should improve productivity and broaden access to solutions and services to clients online.

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