Publications
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-...
Financial Inclusion
Apr 21, 2021
Across all industries, predictive, data-driven algorithms — mathematical recipes ranging from the simple to the complex — are being used to tell stories about individuals and can drive high-stakes decisions: who receives a loan, what sentencing a judge will recommend, what therapeutics a doctor will provide. In the financial services industry, the...
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...
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...
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...
Gender Finance
Mar 24, 2021
Women-owned MSMEs are vital for growth and job creation but face many roadblocks due to lack of access to finance. With better access to finance, women owned MSMEs will have better access to productive assets and increase efficiency for an overall stronger economic growth. The Policy Framework, led by the SME Finance Working Group in collaboration...
Gender Finance
Covid-19
Mar 19, 2021
The pandemic has been exacerbating existing gender inequalities in economic opportunities across Sub-Saharan Africa. Women-owned businesses, women farmers, health and education, and gender-based violence are just some examples to pay attention to as the world heals from the ramifications of Covid-19. This report focuses on mechanisms that can help...
Covid-19
Digital Financial Services
Mar 15, 2021
Has Covid-19 created risks for global banks? The Banking Banana Skins 2021 – Covid Special report focuses on the fast pace of the industry and its lasting effect on structure and operations. The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation’s Banana Skins Index measures the overall high level of risk within the banking sector over the last 20 years...
Financial Inclusion
Mar 15, 2021
The Working Paper is the third and last paper resulting from a research project on “Measuring Microfinance Impact in the EU. Policy recommendations for Financial and Social Inclusion” (Memi). The project was initiated and supervised by the EIF and was funded by the EIB Institute under the EIB-University Sponsorship Programme (EIBURS). This project...
Covid-19
SME Insurance
Fintech
Mar 03, 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic has shifted business operations and have now required a difficult but necessary transition into a “new normal”. Navigating disruption does not relate to disruptive players and innovations within the fintech or insurtech space in this case but relates to the tremor of the pandemic. However, innovative players like governments...
Covid-19
Fintech
Mar 01, 2021
In 2020, the pandemic shifted various financial systems, creating a demand for innovation through multiple channels, systems, and instruments. This called for a shift in FinTech market performances, precise Covid-19 responses by FinTech firms, regulatory intervention or policy assistance, and operational challenges. The outcome is that FinTech...
Covid-19
Fintech
Feb 26, 2021
Central banks and other financial regulators are countering COVID-19 challenges in regulating and overseeing FinTech and Digital Financial Services (DFS) activities. FinTech and DSF are important to extend access to financial services to millions of consumers and MSMEs around the world. With the pandemic severely impacting the global economy and...
Data Analytics
Digital Financial Services
Feb 25, 2021
Banks and credit unions want to do more to reach underserved communities. Still, they are wary of lending to borrowers they view as risky, such as people of color, people without a college degree, recent immigrants, and many of the 40 million “credit invisible” Americans. Generations of discrimination and rejection have caused many minorities to...