Jamaica's small business community is looking more to the financial services offered by local credit unions rather than those of commercial banks, according to Brenda Cuthbert, general manager at City of Kingston Cooperative Credit Union.
The turn to credit unions has partly come about due to the perception that credit unions are for the 'small man' while commercial banks only cater to the 'big man,' Cuthbert said, adding that this perception exists despite the fact that both credit unions and commercial banks say that small business people can rely on them for loans to facilitate business growth.
According to Cuthbert, there has also been a consistent complaint in the small business community that they cannot get decent interest rates or services from commercial banks. "We (credit unions) have always been there for small business. There has been a steady growth of take up of small business loans, but not an astronomical rate," she added.
