Caary Capital’s Léger research in partnership with Xero and the Canadian Lenders Association paints a picture of a Canadian small and medium-sized business (SME) community struggling to access capital and other key financial products and services.

Key findings include:

• 70% of SMEs are having to put their personal and family finances at risk to fund their business by either continuing to rely on a personal credit card for business expenses or providing a personal guarantee to access corporate credit.
• 57% of SMEs say it’s currently challenging to manage cash flow – significantly higher than pre-pandemic (41%).
• 46% of SMEs have had to provide a personal guarantee to access corporate credit.
• 64% continue to rely on a personal credit card for business expenses. 68% say this has created difficulties, most notably due to high interest rates, reconciling expenses at month-end and maxing-out credit limits.

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