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C2FO: Connecting SMEs with Equitable Access to Working Capital
Supply & Value Chain Finance
IFC and C2FO are working under a strategic partnership to bolster job growth and economic prosperity in emerging markets and developing economies. The first initiative will work to enhance financing for local enterprises in Africa by developing a specialized, web-based multinational working capital platform for micro, small, and medium enterprises...
OECD Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs Scoreboard: 2025 Highlights
Policy & Regulation
The OECD Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs Scoreboard: 2025 Highlights tracks financing trends, conditions and policy developments across nearly 50 countries. The paper provides official data on SME financing from 2007 to 2023, with additional insights for 2024 and early 2025, covering debt, equity, asset-based finance and overall financing...
Viet Nam: Creating Pre-Conditions for a Nonperforming Loan Market
Credit Risk & Scoring
Since 2020, #VietNam has experienced a surge in nonperforming loans (NPLs). Not only does the growing number of NPLs reduce the stability of the banking system, but each one represents a borrower excluded from credit markets. Many of the NPLs are consumer debts, meaning poorer households are particularly hard hit. IFC - International Finance...
Ghana: Updating the collateral registry system to increase access to finance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
MSMEs employ more than 80% of the workforce in #Ghana and account for over 70% of GDP. The majority of these enterprises are informal, consisting mainly of micro and sole enterprises operated by women and young entrepreneurs. While these small businesses play a critical role in economic growth and job creation, lack of information and collateral...
Innovative Financing for Inclusive Credit Fintechs in Africa
Equity
Highlights • Inclusive credit fintech has the potential to address the estimated US$4.9 trillion global credit gap for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). • However, access to diverse and suitable funding sources remains a critical challenge, especially for early-stage fintechs that are not yet profitable. • This focus note explores financing...
How and why we finance SMEs
Digital Financial Services
BII sees opportunities for impact in firms of all sizes. Sole-traders, microenterprises, small, medium, and large firms are all sometimes unable to find the financing they need, to the detriment of society. The growth of firms is at the heart of development. Countries escape poverty as people move out of informal employment into wage-paying jobs...
Enhancing Long Term Finance for SMEs in Europe - COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE FROM OUR EXPERT GROUP
Alternative Financing
Guarantees
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY KEY ACTIONS AGREED BY THE EXPERT GROUP: shorted by importance and short term feasibility: Banking channel PUBLIC-PRIVATE SHARED INVESTMENT MODELS: Building on the success of initiatives like “France Relance,” this action advocates for collaborative investment strategies that engage both public and private sectors in financing...
G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion: Action Plan for MSME Financing
Policy & Regulation
Summary The G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) Action Plan for Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises (MSME) Financing is a call to action to intensify the efforts of G20 and willing non-G20 countries to close the financing gap for MSMEs. MSMEs represent a significant share of economic activity and capture a large share of...
The ASEAN Access to Digital Finance Study
Digital Financial Services
Tania Ziegler (CCAF), Krishnamurthy Suresh (CCAF), Zhifu Xie (CCAF), Felipe Ferri de Camargo Paes (CCAF), Peter J Morgan (ADBI), Bryan Zhang (CCAF). This first edition of ‘The ASEAN Access to Digital Finance Study’, aims to provide valuable data and insights into how individual households, consumers, and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME)...
The SME Access to Digital Finance Study: A Deep Dive into the Latin American Fintech Ecosystem
Digital Financial Services
Tania Ziegler (CCAF), Felipe Ferri de Camargo Paes (CCAF), Cecilia López Closs (CCAF), Erika Soki (CCAF), Diego Herrera (IDB), Jaime Sarmiento (IDB) This edition of ‘The SME Access to Finance: A Deep Dive into LATAM’s Fintech Ecosystem’ provides insights into micro, small and medium enterprises’ (MSMEs’) access to funding through the alternative...
MSME Access to Digital Finance Study: in Selected EMDE Countries in Asia
Digital Financial Services
By Krishnamurthy Suresh (Principal Researcher, CCAF), Felipe Ferri de Camargo Paes (Principal Researcher, CCAF), Loh Xiang Ru (CCAF), Richard Kithuka (CCAF), Peter Morgan (ADBI), Pavle Avramovic (CCAF), and Bryan Zhang (CCAF). This is the second edition of our ‘Access to Digital Finance’ study in Asia-Pacific. Building on our previous publication...
Digital Finance Developments: International AI Policy Focuses on Safety
Data & Cybersecurity
Fintech
"International AI Policy Focuses on Safety" discusses the increasing global emphasis on ensuring the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI). Key points and main ideas include: International Collaboration on AI Safety: Governments and international organizations are recognizing the need for harmonized approaches to AI safety,...
Key Considerations for Open Finance
Digital Transformation
November 2024 Highlights Open finance is a financial innovation that facilitates customer-permissioned access to and use of customer data held by financial institutions to provide new and enhanced services and develop innovative business models. Open finance frameworks can spur innovation, improve competition, enhance customer empowerment, and...
Banking for SMEs: The voice of the makers
Digital Transformation
Fintech
A follow-up series of Banking for small and medium enterprises by IBM Institute for Business Value Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of the global economy, representing 90% of all firms, employing approximately 70% of the world’s workforce, and contributing 50% to global GDP.* Despite their significance, SMEs face many...
Middle market businesses are a growth engine for the global economy
Digital Transformation
The white paper by Mastercard underscores the pivotal role of middle market businesses (firms with 50 to 250 employees) in driving global economic growth, with a notable $24.2 trillion in B2B spending in 2022. These businesses face unique challenges as they scale, such as the need for digitization, automation, and streamlined operations, along...
Unlocking the Decarbonization of SMEs: How Public Development Banks Are Supporting SMEs And Measuring The Success of Their Solutions
Sustainable Finance
As the world faces the urgent challenge of climate change, financial institutions, especially Public Development Banks (PDBs), are crucial in helping Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) transitioning to a low-carbon economy. This publication reviews the different solutions offered by 16 Public Development Banks (PDBs) to support the...
Inclusive Fintech: How Startups are Bridging the Finance Gap for Microenterprises
Fintech
October 2024 Highlights: Inclusive fintech startups are early-stage, venture-backed enterprises creating innovative credit products for microenterprises in emerging markets, which holds great promise for the future of microenterprise finance. In this note, we highlight strategies employed by fintech startups that benefit microenterprises via three...
Cooler Finance
Sustainable Finance
Mobilizing Investment for the Developing World's Sustainable Cooling Needs Rising global temperatures mean demand for cooling in homes, workplaces, and across supply chains is accelerating, particularly in developing economies where the impact of extreme heat is already being felt most acutely. Heat-related deaths are running at an annual average...
AI in Finance: Bridging the Inclusion Gap
Financial Inclusion
Fintech
June 5, 2024 | Washington DC EMpact is helping build AI Labs within our partner organizations as a part of our effort to accelerate digital transformation of agricultural value chains and relevant financial services. Today, EMpact published a new white paper that delves into the pivotal role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in propelling financial...
Banking for small and medium enterprises
Data Analytics
Fintech
Small and medium enterprises face many challenges within a rapidly evolving economic landscape—one that demands innovative banking solutions. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of the global economy, representing 90% of all firms, employing approximately 70% of the world's workforce, and contributing 50% to global GDP. But...