In February 2021, we launched our revised pulse survey, to be run quarterly, with more targeted questions to understand how our members, and by proxy...
The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) was held from Tuesday, 6 July, to Thursday, 15 July 2021, including a...
A webinar summary. Recent developments in technology have significantly changed the SME insurance industry. Insurtechs, insurance companies and other...
In February 2021, we launched our revised pulse survey, to be run quarterly, with more targeted questions to understand how our members, and by proxy...
The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) was held from Tuesday, 6 July, to Thursday, 15 July 2021, including a...
A webinar summary. Recent developments in technology have significantly changed the SME insurance industry. Insurtechs, insurance companies and other...
This blog is a summary of our webinar on digital financial services work for women . Women’s World Banking (WWB ) conducted research in 2019, on an emerging business model known as social commerce entrepreneurship with enterprises blending social media, e-commerce, payments and delivery platforms in India and Indonesia. One of the key findings of...
This blog is the summary of our Member Spotlight with Trefi. In this member spotlight session, we gave the floor to Trefi , which helps financial institutions turn MSME finance into a sustainable and highly profitable business line, by providing the infrastructure for business clearing, amongst others. They took us through their journey creating...
In February 2021, we launched our revised pulse survey, to be run quarterly, with more targeted questions to understand how our members, and by proxy how their SME clients, are faring. We had 71 respondents working in 143 countries, out of which 47 are lenders working in a little over 100 countries. Our second round of surveys this year, during...
Este blog es un resumen del evento En Foco con AB Bank Zambia . La digitalización se ha convertido en la principal tendencia de los servicios financieros para las PYMES desde que comenzó la pandemia de COVID-19. La tecnología apoya a las instituciones financieras a brindar servicios de forma más accesible a más personas en la base de la pirámide,...
This is a summary of the third session of the SME Finance Virtual Marketplace – Fintechs . With the purpose of adding value to its membership offering, the SME Finance Forum developed the “ SME Finance Virtual Marketplace ” to provide members with a match-making platform to foster partnership and collaboration among financial institutions,...
This blog is the summary of our Member Spotlight with AB Bank Zambia . Digitalization has become the main trend for SME financial services since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Technology supports financial institutions to provide services that can be accessible to more people at the bottom of the pyramid. Not only in rich countries where...
This is a summary of Virtual Roundtable Series #31-Transitioning from Relief to Recovery . Since COVID-19 pandemic caused economic damage to millions of SMEs, governments of different countries and financial institutions have implemented various adjustments to support SMEs during the crisis. However, many of those support programs have expired or...
This is a member spotlight summary. While entrepreneurs in the informal sector contribute an average of 60% to the GDP of West African countries, less than 15% of those entrepreneurs have access to banks as a source of financing. Significant progress has been achieved by fintech companies who are working with banks and e-money operators in the...
A summary of SME Finance Virtual Marketplace - Second Session - Fintechs A study published by Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School, highlighted that “60% of all financial technology firms at the global level are launching new products, services, and features during COVID-19.” With the purpose of adding value to...
This is an open webinar summary. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Centralized Finance (CeFi) have been one of the most trending subjects of discussion in the industry since 2018. Often understood as a blockchain-based form of financial technology that removes intermediaries when offering financial instruments, DeFi no longer relies on a third...
This is a virtual roundtable summary. The pandemic has brought several changes to the SME Finance ecosystem worldwide. Many banks and Big Tech companies chose to partner together to provide solutions to counter the challenges posed by COVID-19. This roundtable aimed to examine the increasingly important role of Tech Giants in the SME financing...
The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) was held from Tuesday, 6 July, to Thursday, 15 July 2021, including a three-day ministerial meeting and the theme was "Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”. This High-Level event further builds on the outcomes of the joint side event organized...
One way of targeting investment to the businesses that need it the most is through an approach known as ‘directed lending’ (DL). It is a tool increasingly used by development finance institutions (DFIs) in recent years and involves lending to financial institutions so that they, in turn, lend to specific types of customer. MSMEs is the most common...
This blog is a summary of our webinar on Supply Chain Finance for Women-SMEs Supply Chain Finance (SCF) is an effective solution to extend access to finance to SMEs by developing a technology-driven low-risk product aimed to channel liquidity to strategically important value chains. It also has strong potential to close finance gaps for SMEs,...
This blog is a summary of our Virtual Roundtable Series #28 - Handling Insolvency during Crisis: What Will SMEs Need? SMEs are the backbones of many economies around the world, especially in the emerging countries where they play even more important roles in employment and income generations, innovation as well as provision of public goods and...
A webinar summary. Recent developments in technology have significantly changed the SME insurance industry. Insurtechs, insurance companies and other financial services providers are expected to explore new approaches to serve the SME market together. Jackson Theuri ( Britam General Insurance Kenya Ltd. ) , Khue Dinh ( Chubb Vietnam ), and Douglas...
A virtual roundtable summary. As the pandemic proceeds to the second year, the degree of information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers continues to increase. In the post-COVID-19 era, it is important to find new data sources and establish innovative risk models that are well-calibrated to provide accurate assessments of the SMEs’ capacity of...
This is a summary of Virtual Roundtable Series #27 - Government Support for Alternative Financiers in COVID Recovery . Shachindra Nath ( U GRO Capital ), Kelvin Teo ( Funding Societies ), Scott Stewart ( Innovative Lending Platform Association ), Tania Ziegler ( Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School ), and Bill...
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are changing the face of financing, expanding what might be possible for financial services providers, lowering the cost of understanding customers, and increasing precision in targeting financial services to the unique needs of women-owned SMEs. However, we know from other industries that without...
A summary of our Member Spotlight with FNB . COVID-19 has exposed the needs for financial institutions to adopt technologies at a faster pace. Retrieving and automating data in a seamless way can make a difference in the way they operate and optimize business transactions, thus better serving their SME customers. This is undoubtedly a step forward...
