Library
Jan 17, 2019
According to an IFC report, there are a few key challenges that have long limited the digital transformation of financial services in emerging markets. These challenges include: low access to formal financial services; low income and financial-literacy levels; underdeveloped technology solutions; and weak infrastructures. Due to these challenges,...
Jan 17, 2019
SME Finance Forum member, The European Investment Bank (EIB), is lending EUR 22.3m to Garanti Bank Romania to support businesses in Romania. EUR 5m of the loan amount is devoted to female entrepreneurs, matched by another EUR 5m from Garanti Bank. This transaction is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial...
Jan 17, 2019
SME Finance Forum member The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the U.S. government that facilitates investment by U.S.-based firms in developing countries, recently loaned Banco Regional SAECA USD $138 million for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises in Paraguay. A portion of the loan proceeds are intended to...
Jan 16, 2019
Washington, D.C. January 29, 2019 – Morocco Credit Guarantee Corporation (CCG) became the newest member of the SME Finance Forum, a global membership network that brings together financial institutions, technology companies, and development finance institutions to share knowledge, spur innovation, and promote the growth of SMEs. “200 million...
Jan 15, 2019
Every month the SME Finance Forum organizes a webinar for its members. We invite industry experts from leading banks or innovative fintechs to talk about their approach to small business finance. Members can tune in to the webinars via WebEx or the phone. The webinars are designed to be interactive and we encourage members to ask questions and...
Jan 15, 2019
The report summarizes the global Lending and Payments markets and examines key economic and microeconomic factors that hamper market growth. The report also predicts the size and value of the global market in the near future. The report presents a thorough analysis of the market's past and present conditions and presents the market in the next few...
Jan 15, 2019
The stories of IFC client, Cooperative Bank of Kenya, show how relatively modest investments help small and medium-sized businesses grow to bring jobs and new financial resources to families and communities.
Jan 14, 2019
A specialized regulatory window for nonbank e-money issuers (EMIs) is one of four basic regulatory enablers for inclusive digital financial services in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) (Staschen and Meagher 2018). For the purposes of this guide, EMI is defined as any regulated entity—bank and nonbank—that is dedicated to issuing e...
Jan 14, 2019
This paper focuses on key aspects of sustainable PE/VC market development and deployment.3 It discusses (1) why sustainable PE/VC is a useful tool to catalyze other types of capital to achieve sustainability objectives, (2) best practices and lessons learned from the experiences of knowledge partners, (3) the main barriers to further developing...
Jan 14, 2019
To date, there has been no efficient way of uncovering synthetic ID fraud. To crack down on it, every customer seeking credit would have to undergo even more rigorous ID checks than they do already. This Mckinsey article proposes a new approach that, with the help of machine learning, digs deep into vast amounts of third-party data to gauge...