The acceleration of digital banking during the COVID-19 crisis is changing the “face” of banking. How will this crisis transform the banking industry and how we...
A virtual roundtable summary. The acceleration of digital banking during the COVID-19 crisis is changing the “face” of banking. How will this crisis transform the banking industry and how we transact financial services? As part of a weekly webinar series on COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the SME Finance Forum hosted a virtual roundtable to discuss...
The SME Finance Forum hosted a panel discussion on Data Analytics in SME Banking with esteemed speakers who shared their viewpoints from the private and public sectors. From the discussion, it was clear to see that the perspectives varied across different countries where our panelists work and live: • Buhle Goslar (JUMO) –Africa region and...
A virtual roundtable summary. More than four months have passed since the beginning of a global lockdown and only a few weeks since some countries have started to re-open. Yet uncertainty remains as the pandemic continues to burn through countries and even re-emerge in ones that seemed to have it under control. Looking to counter the unpredictable...
The SME Finance Forum is continuously working to share the knowledge and experiences of our members as one of our core activities (Learn, Link, and Lead). During the COVID-19 crisis, and as a global SME finance community, the Forum introduced a new virtual roundtable series as part of our commitment to support our members and partners. The...
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing businesses from retail, manufacturing and service providers to reevaluate their business models where the traditional “in-person” & “social” setting is the norm. As a result, businesses began to realize the need to incorporate a bigger portion of their business process with an innovative “contactless” method of...
Once again, a significant number of members responded to our monthly pulse survey (76). We’d like to thank our members for their continued support! Last Thursday, at our Virtual Roundtable session, after the preliminary breakdown of the survey responses, we discovered that for the first time most respondents reported from Sub-Saharan Africa (26%)...
A virtual roundtable summary. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy is projected to suffer the sharpest contraction since the great depression of the 1930s. To forecast what is happening with the SME sector, we must look at the macro-economic picture. As part of a weekly webinar series on COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the SME Finance...
A virtual roundtable summary. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, economies around the world have been shaken by supply chain disruptions in all sectors, and the agricultural sector is no exception. The effects of COVID-19 have been diverse and largely dependent on the extremity of a country’s lockdown as well as government interventions. As...
A virtual roundtable summary. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create new challenges for MSMEs, global microfinance networks have been forced to rethink their approaches to microfinance and supporting SME clients. The largest microfinance networks work on several continents and serve millions of clients through partner organizations. Thus,...
A virtual roundtable summary. Latin America has become the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Brazil, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, and other countries, the virus continues to spread quite aggressively. With this new reality, the region is facing numerous challenges to revive economies and SMEs have been deeply hit by the crisis. In this context...
