A virtual roundtable summary The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic hardship to millions of SMEs. To help SMEs survive through this crisis, governments and financial institutions have been granting loan repayment holidays to their clients. These payment deferral programs can blur the lines between illiquid and insolvent borrowers, making credit...
Dear Members, As 2020 draws to an end, let me take this opportunity to thank you and your colleagues for your continued support during these difficult times. 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us and while we have seen the COVID-19 pandemic throw the world into uncertainty, we are proud that so many of you have found the new services we...
A webinar summary Blockchain is no longer just about Bitcoin. With the rapid development of enterprise-grade solutions, we're witnessing a proliferation of blockchain use cases in the banking industry. Ivy Luu ( nanopay Corporation ) and Dengfeng Zhang ( Linklogis ) joined the panel to discuss the past, present and future impact of technological...
We have now reached the eighth month of our Pulse Surveys and it goes without saying that this long period of data collection would not have been possible without our engaged members! In the months of October and November we had 75 respondents from 43 countries and 62 respondents from 40 countries respectively. In terms of respondent breakdown by...
A virtual roundtable summary Since the COVID-19 pandemic, public entities have introduced various policies and programs to mitigate the economic disruption. However, the relief measures including moratoriums on loan repayments, closure of courts and banks due to lockdowns, increased lending to businesses under government-backed scheme, as well as...
A webinar summary. While the supply chain finance sector is rising steadily, there is still a large unmet need in global trade finance, which has an estimated financing gap of $1.9 trillion annually around the world according to the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable. Nevertheless, with the availability of trade and transaction data,...
A virtual roundtable summary. COVID-19 has created new challenges, which require new solutions and strategic partnerships between FinTech companies, Banks, and Non-Banks. The latest report from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Financial Services series explores how the intersections of emerging technologies like AI, DLT, cloud, and IOT are...
A webinar summary. With the digitization of the supply chain, several technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, have been developed to help financial institutions and other partners reduce risk, lend more efficiently, and connect customers to suppliers. The SME Finance Forum hosted a webinar last week to understand how...
A virtual roundtable summary The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to the field of SME finance, and these challenges won’t be solved without agile fintech companies. Hence, many banks around the world are partnering with, and in some cases acquiring, fintech to provide solutions for their SME clients. As part of a weekly webinar series...
A virtual roundtable summary. Women-owned SMEs are disproportionally impacted by the repercussions of the COVID-19 health crisis. The resulting economic downturn threatens to widen the gender gap in access to finance. Technology has become a key pillar in bridging this gap with banks and FinTech companies successfully leveraging technology to...