The SME Finance Forum organized a workshop to discuss the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) evaluation on the effects of G20 financial reforms on the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. The consultation report was published in early June and comments are due by 7 August. 

This was a great opportunity for our community to discuss the findings of the evaluation to date and provide ground-level, evidence-based observations on the impact of the post-crisis financial reforms on SME financing (in terms of volumes, prices/spreads, maturities, collateral, types of firms etc.). This feedback will be considered by the FSB alongside the public consultation responses when finalizing the evaluation report. 

About the Speakers

Simonetta Iannotti is Member of Secretariat at the Financial Stability Board. She joined the FSB Secretariat in January 2010. She supports the financial sector reforms and policy evaluation in the areas of systemically important financial institutions, insurance, interest rate benchmarks, compensation and conduct issues, macroprudential frameworks and the evaluation of the effects of reforms in particular on SME financing. In her current role, she supports the FSB Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation (SRC), the FSB Official Sector Steering Group, the FSB Evaluation team on the effects of reforms on SME financings. Before joining the FSB she worked for the Bank of Italy in Regulatory Policy and Macroprudential Analysis, and in Large Banks Supervision. 

Costas Stephanou is the Acting Manager of Financial Stability Analysis in the FSB Secretariat, and oversees the work on vulnerabilities assessments, implementation monitoring and evaluations of the effects of reforms. In that capacity, he coordinates the preparation of the annual FSB reports to the G20 on the implementation and effects of reforms; supports evaluations; and participates in FSB thematic and country peer reviews. Costas previously worked as a Senior Financial Economist at the World Bank, as a risk management consultant for Oliver Wyman, and as Treasury Risk Manager and Head of Planning for an HSBC affiliate in Greece. 

About the Discussants 

Anju Patwardhan is Managing Partner, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund
Anju is a Managing Partner with CreditEase for its Fintech Investment Fund and Fund of Funds and is a member of the Investment Committee. She has over 25 years of banking experience with Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank in global leadership roles across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She is a globally recognized and awarded Fintech thought leader and influencer. She is on the advisory board of Government of Estonia's e-Residency program and is FinTech Industry Expert at UC Berkeley. She is a Distinguished Fellow of Singapore Institute of Banking and Finance (the highest financial services accolade in Singapore) and an Innovation Fellow with NUS Enterprise.

Philip Sigwart is former SME Banking Director, Equity Group Holdings
Philip was the Director of SME Banking of Equity Group Holdings (Kenya), one of the leading banking groups in East Africa, and Executive Director of Equity Bank DRC. Previously, he worked in senior management positions in Eastern Europe and the Balkans with the ProCredit Group based in Frankfurt, Germany, and has held directorships for ProCredit subsidiaries in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. He started his career with the Russia Small Business Fund of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 
 

Contact: Farah Siddique