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...
It’s been 6 months since we sent out the first pulse survey to our members, and with every month we continue to better understand the state of our members and, by proxy, their SME clients. This month, we had 58 respondents from 42 countries, while the consistent respondent sample, recorded over a four-month period (June-September) consists of 22...
A virtual roundtable summary. The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for SME lenders, and some banks were able to overcome these challenges and even acquire new SME customers along the way. As part of a series on COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the SME Finance Forum hosted a virtual roundtable “New Lending into a Crisis” showcasing the...
A webinar summary. SMEs contribute significantly in terms of value-added to the economy and employment in any given country, but especially in emerging markets. However, their contribution is not matched with a proportionate availability of formal financing. For example, in Tanzania, 70% of SMEs have no access to formal financial services. Among...
Some improvements reported but overall, members remain wary… This month’s pulse survey received 56 responses. Our members are showing signs of improvement, with the exception of a 10-percentage point increase in Asset Impairment. We see a similar trend among the consistent respondent sample (June-August). More members are reporting that they are...
A virtual roundtable summary. Over 200 million small businesses around the world need financing to invest, grow, and create new jobs. But we know that SMEs need more than financing to thrive. They need access to information, markets, and technology to become more productive, efficient, and resilient. They also need access to resources that can...
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...
