Launched in July 2017, the Fund provides vital working capital that businesses, particularly in Asia, need to grow. By lending to SMEs, the Fund aims to deliver an annualized net return of 6% - 8% to investors. The Fund marked the Group's diversification from commodity trade finance to capture financing opportunities in non-commodity sectors. Top industries financed currently include medical products, automotive components and IT hardware/software services.

"Having disbursed over US$100 million of cumulative financing in less than 6 months is just proof of the prevalent demand from SMEs in the region for an alternative source of capital. Booming economies and trade in Asia continue to increase working capital requirements for SMEs. In 2018, we will further develop this platform to service more geographies in Asia," said Rohit Goyal, Deputy Head of Receivables and Supply Chain Finance at EFA Group.

"The next step is to optimize the Fund's lending activities and ensure that we continue to deploy our capital to good quality borrowers in order to bridge the financing gap between companies that need funding and investors who can supply it," he added.