SME Financing Guarantee Scheme (SFGS) approvals are not the finish line — repayment is the real test. By November 2025, the 80% and 90% guarantee products had reached around 25,000 SMEs (HKMA Insight, December 2025). The interest-only arrangement expires on 17 November 2026, after which principal enters monthly repayments — the moment of truth for businesses that have only been paying interest.
Ah Chak (pseudonym; case narrative), a cross-border haulier with five tractor units and 60-day settlement terms from major clients, faced two collisions at once: a quarterly contract from a cross-border e-commerce platform demanding eight more trucks (roughly HK$2M of fronting costs in the first three months), and a bank unwilling to extend new credit while his record showed no principal repayment history.
The gap between relief funding and growth funding was filled by private credit. Against a clean pool of receivables from platforms and major brands, a fund extended a revolving working-capital facility — no fleet pledged, no property, no further personal guarantee. From submitting the aged-debt schedule to the first drawdown: three weeks. The bank handles the legacy relief loan on schedule; the fund carries the growth order. The two do not compete.
Three lessons: the countdown has started (17 November 2026); keep relief money and growth money in separate buckets; and a well-kept receivables ledger is itself negotiating power.
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This is a summary of our detailed Chinese analysis. Read the full story in Chinese →