Library
Apr 16, 2021
Starting on Monday, 2021 Global SME Finance Awards will be open to submitting your entries! Get ready to share with us how your organization has excelled during the past year! Take a peek at last year Award’s Ceremony here> https://vimeo.com/483641749 Deadline: June 12th, 2021 More information coming soon! #SMEFinanceAwards
Fintech
Apr 16, 2021
Fern Software is now an official ‘ Salesforce AppExchange Partner’ (ISV Partner). This partnership will grant significant benefits to both companies. Fern can now supercharge their range of fintech solutions on the Salesforce Lightning Platform. And Salesforce can penetrate further into the fintech market. The partnership comes at a pivotal time...
Apr 16, 2021
Washington D.C., April 16th, 2021- BanQu joins the SME Finance Forum as the newest member of our global membership network. Our members are SME Financing experts from 80+ countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation. “40 percent of small and medium...
Digital Financial Services
Apr 15, 2021
Online Payment Platform , the Netherlands payment service provider, has selected payments expert and licensed bank, Banking Circle , to enhance its marketplace offering. Online Payment Platform is focused on providing a cost-effective and fast payment solution for over 170 marketplaces such as Nature.house and Marktplaats.nl from the Netherlands...
Gender Finance
Apr 14, 2021
After attending our open webinar ‘ Gender Lens Investing in Financial Intermediaries ’, author Hamish Monk wrote this article that was first published on Finextra 's website here . What is gender lens investing? How do we advance gender diversity and inclusion in the fintech and renewable energy sectors? Can we accurately measure the impact of...
Apr 13, 2021
Washington D.C., April 13th 2021 - CAF – Development Bank of Latin America joins the SME Finance Forum as the newest member of our global membership network. Our members are SME Financing experts from 80+ countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation. “...
Covid-19
Digital Transformation
Apr 13, 2021
Although the banking industry has long been tech-heavy, its technology has not always served it well and this presents a particular challenge when trying to serve the important SME market. Banking tech has not been able to keep up with the pace of change in other industries, and the monolithic systems and in-house servers on which they are built...
Financial Inclusion
Gender Finance
Apr 12, 2021
Women’s financial inclusion, especially in rural Uganda, remains low. Two innovations were tested among adult females – a mobile banking service with digital subwallet folders labeled for women and the same service coupled with a course of seven household counselling sessions aimed at equalizing the influence of women and men in the context of...
Financial Education
Sustainable Finance
Policy & Regulation
Covid-19
Apr 08, 2021
This report highlights the risk of a sharply diverging world in the near term where the gaps between rich and poor widen because some countries lack the necessary financial resources to combat the COVID-19 crisis and its socioeconomic impact. It explores the impact of the pandemic on economics, social, and environmental risks, and the implications...
Supply & Value Chain Finance
Apr 08, 2021
Financial Times recently published an article on Supply Chain Finance, featuring Kevin Day, CEO of member HPD LendScape . The Australian financier behind the now collapsed finance group Greensill Capital pitched his business as an agent of “technological disruption” that aimed at “democratizing capital.” But what Lex Greensill was actually...
Financial Inclusion
Gender Finance
Apr 06, 2021
Member Prime Bank ’s women-focused initiative ‘NEERA’ has undertaken a countrywide programme to drive financial literacy among the unbanked women in Bangladesh. As part of “Month of Neera” initiative, marking International Women’s Day, officials of different branches of Prime Bank have visited the neighborhood community and helped the women with...
Gender Finance
Fintech
Apr 06, 2021
Women represent the world’s largest and fastest-growing market but are mostly disregarded and underserved in the financial industry, especially women in fintechs. The industry has unnoticed the distinct needs and preferences of women and in doing so, there is a loss of trillions of dollars. By addressing the unmet needs of women, fintechs can gain...
Financial Inclusion
Gender Finance
Data Analytics
Apr 05, 2021
An important component of gender data is sex-disaggregated data and its support for women’s financial inclusion. With an estimated $1.7 trillion finance gap that exists for women owned MSMEs in emerging economies, the brief focuses on how gender data collection and analysis can narrow the gap and empower key stakeholders to realize their full...
Covid-19
Digital Financial Services
Apr 01, 2021
World Trade Organization (WTO) , Trade Finance Global (TFG) , and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have launched their latest publication, ‘ Accelerating trade digitalization to support MSME financing .’ This new publication, authored by WTO’s Emmanuelle Ganne and TFG’s Deepesh Patel, dives into the benefits and deployment challenges of...
Sustainable Finance
Apr 01, 2021
Washington D.C., April 1st, 2021 - Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) joins the SME Finance Forum as the newest member of our global membership network. Our members are SME Financing experts from 80+ countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation...
Gender Finance
Mar 31, 2021
Women’s agency is severely limited in many contexts, globally. Women in low- and middle-income countries experience less freedom of choice, control over one’s life, say in household decision making, and life satisfaction compared to men. Increasing women’s agency is crucial to reducing gender inequality and improving women’s outcomes in many...
Sustainable Finance
Mar 29, 2021
Washington D.C., 29 March 2021- We are pleased to announce that the International Trade Centre (ITC) is joining the SME Financing Forum. ITC , with Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations with responsibility for sustainable trade and enterprise development. ITC has a...
Digital Financial Services
Mar 29, 2021
Our member, Banking Circle , a financial infrastructure provider, announces that it is now completely cloud-based, with all aspects of its infrastructure hosted within Microsoft Azure. This infrastructure includes its purpose-built, cloud-first, cross-border payments platform, which delivers greater speed, enhanced functionality, and a more...
Financial Inclusion
Mar 25, 2021
Washington D.C., March 25th, 2021 - National Cash Transfer Co. (YCASH) joins the SME Finance Forum as the newest member of our global membership network. Our members are SME Financing experts from 80+ countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation. “When we...
Trade Finance
Mar 24, 2021
Washington D.C., March 24th- FIMBank joins the SME Finance Forum as the newest member of our global membership network. Our members are SME Financing experts from 80+ countries who share the common goal of expanding access to finance to small businesses worldwide through knowledge exchange and innovation. “40 percent of small and medium businesses...