Publications
Financial Inclusion
Sustainable Finance
Covid-19
Sep 16, 2021
With its wide-ranging economic impact, the COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to governments and businesses all over the world. Vigorous responses from governments and central banks have succeeded in averting a major global crisis, but the pandemic and the responses to it have left various medium and long-term challenges in their...
Digital Transformation
Fintech
Sep 08, 2021
Erik Feyen (World Bank), Jon Frost (Bank for International Settlements and Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance), Leonardo Gambacorta (BIS and Centre for Economic Policy Research), Harish Natarajan (World Bank) and Matthew Saal (International Finance Corporation) have jointly published a paper about fintech and digital transformation. Economic...
Digital Transformation
Aug 31, 2021
On 7 July 2021, Mastercard and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) held a series of convenings, focused on the digital transformation of the sector. During those roundtables, the following topics were discussed: How digital technology and collaborative business models are helping to transform the postal sector and creating new ways for posts to...
Covid-19
Aug 24, 2021
Europe’s banks have a golden opportunity to boost lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In the midst of the pandemic, they are the conduits for billions in state funding to support this crucial segment of the economy. However cumbersome legacy IT systems and outdated risk profiling stand in the way. Agile new competitors are...
Digital Financial Services
Fintech
Aug 17, 2021
To meet the evolving needs of SME customers, banks are transforming their business models, digitizing their offerings, and creating ecosystems with a whole range of beyond banking services. These banking transformations, however, do not just happen overnight. With their business clients at the forefront of their efforts, some banks are going it...
Gender Finance
Aug 09, 2021
Across the globe, e-commerce is thriving. The e-commerce market in Africa is expected to reach $84 billion by 2030. The number of online shoppers has increased by an average of 18 percent every year since 2014, with similar growth anticipated over the next decade. The IFC’s latest report Women and E-commerce in Africa is the first large-scale use...
Digital Transformation
Jul 30, 2021
Following the Asia-Pacific Financial Forum Roundtable, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) released a report that gathers recommendations to APEC Leaders and Finance Ministers on how regional cooperation can help create the digital infrastructure and ecosystem for financial services to accelerate MSMEs’ digital transformation. It examined...
Trade Finance
Jul 22, 2021
The B20, the Business at OECD (BIAC) and the IOE just published a joint paper, followed the B20-OECD-Business at OECD annual meeting last Friday 16th July, proposing three concrete recommendations to the G20 in support of access to Trade Finance. The paper progresses the work on the “GVC Passport” concept initiated last year under the B20 Saudi...
Fintech
Jul 20, 2021
Bitbond is a global peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform where small businesses get access to affordable loans and lenders earn great interest rates. It is based in Berlin and in operation since 2013. In 2019, Bitbond conducted Germany's first Security Token Offering (STO) with a securities prospectus approved by BaFin. It is a provider for...
Governance
Covid-19
Jun 21, 2021
Afreximbank Research recently published a paper written by Prof. Emmanual Akyeampong (Ellen Gurney Professors of History and of African and African America Studies, and Oppenheimer Faculty Director, Harvard University Center for Africa Studies), discussing the strength and the reaction that African governments have during the post-COVID-19 period...
Financial Inclusion
Fintech
Jun 18, 2021
Many donors and impact investors today are looking to support new innovations to maximize their development impact. But with fintechs emerging all the time — many touting their potential to improve the lives of low-income, excluded customers with unproven business models — it is important for funders to be wary of hype and conduct due diligence in...
Governance
Covid-19
Jun 15, 2021
Afreximbank Research recently published a paper written by Dani Rodrik (Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; Co-Director of the Economics for Inclusive Prosperity Network; President-Elect of the International Economic Association), discussing whether African...
Covid-19
Jun 14, 2021
SMEs are recovering well from a difficult year, and signs are pointing to a positive economic environment for FY22. In the next 12 months, nearly two-thirds of SMEs are planning to borrow to drive growth for their businesses. But there are still too many pain points around getting the appropriate funding. These are some of the many findings in the...
Governance
Covid-19
May 24, 2021
A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging markets and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of...
Policy & Regulation
Covid-19
May 18, 2021
OECD recently released a paper providing an analysis of the diverse range of SME and entrepreneurship policy measures implemented during the course of a year since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. The paper documents how SMEs were at the center of the disruptions at the start of the pandemic and that one year later they stand in an even more...
May 07, 2021
In this publication, you will read about the SME Finance Forum highlights in 2020. Extract from the Foreword: The year 2020 has been a challenging one for all of us. We have seen the COVID-19 pandemic throw the world into uncertainty. In this context, we are proud to have launched new services to help our members deal with this extraordinary...
Gender Finance
Covid-19
May 07, 2021
In Sub-Saharan Africa, small and medium enterprises account for up to 90 percent of all businesses. These businesses face financial and operational difficulties in good economic times, and the COVID-19 crisis has only amplified the challenges they must contend with on a daily basis. The pandemic also has the potential to widen existing gender...
Digital Transformation
May 06, 2021
In September 2016, member AccessHolding entered into a Partnership Agreement with member Mastercard Foundation to support the A2A Programme with USD 15.5 million over a period of five years. The overall objective of the A2A programme is to strengthen the capacities of the AccessHolding Network Financial Institutions (NFI) with the aim to increase...
Non Financial Services
Apr 30, 2021
Unlock Your Business Wellbeing: How to Identify Burnout and the Tactics to Overcome It. Member Retail Capital recently released a new publication. Running a business comes with a great deal of stress and anxiety, but how does burnout differ from traditional entrepreneurial pressures? It’s the buzzword we hear time and again, but what does ‘burnout...
Gender Finance
Covid-19
Apr 22, 2021
2020 was a year like no other, with women entrepreneurs around the world deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) recently published their 2020 Annual Report, showing how the partnership is supporting these women not just to survive the crisis, but also enhances their long-term resilience. As We-...