The Inter-American Development Bank commissioned Econlex Corp. to undertake a study of the legal underpinnings of access to finance and credit bureau regulations in Jamaica with the end objective of developing a plan to improve national access to finance.

Econlex was to perform an in-depth study of the current state of legislation surrounding secured transactions, credit reporting systems and credit bureaus (if any existed), bankruptcy and recent insolvency reform. The goal of the study was to identify the flaws and deficiencies that prevented small and medium sized enterprises from obtaining capital.

As a part of this study, we gave particular attention to the impact of the global crisis on banking activities in Jamaica as well as the domestic banking system as a hole. We analyzed Jamaica’s particular economic rationale for reform and, in doing so, we found and exclusion of SMEs from the secured transactions system thanks to deficiencies in both collateral registry systems and the legal framework surrounding insolvency and bankruptcy. After the revision and careful consideration of these and many other shortcomings we made our recommendations accordingly.