This interview to 22 small business owners who are clients of Accion Microfinance Bank (AMfB) to learn more about their financial health and capability is part of a research to develop a framework to help MSMEs better understand and achieve financial health.
The future of the banking ecosystem will extend well beyond financial services. The key pillars of a bank in the future will be data, API, AI&ML, a cloud-based platform, cybersecurity, and controls & compliance. Read more here.
Article by GoMedici.com
A lack of data on the youth segment has led many to assume that young people don’t make good clients. However, a growing body of evidence shows that youth have significant potential as clients.
Read more in this CGAP’s blog.
With initiatives coming from both public and private sectors, including traditional institutions and fintech start-ups, SMEs stand to gain from fintech initiatives within the next few years.
Those that make the move to digitize their businesses will be able to capitalize on these new products and solutions to improve their business performance.
Read in this article a list of key banking innovations creating new opportunities for SMEs in Southeast Asia:
The Smart Campaign launches new standards and guidance covering digital financial services, especially credit.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has announced a long-term local currency loan of 100 million Georgian lari (around 35 million US dollars) to the Bank of Georgia to help boost access to finance for smaller businesses and women entrepreneurs. The investment is supported by the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility, a pioneering global initiative by IFC and the Goldman Sachs Foundation to expand access to capital for women entrepreneurs.
News via Emerging Europe.
"If you want to see the future of fintech, just go to China," said Edith Yeung, managing partner of Proof of Capital, a blockchain-focused investment firm at a breakfast roundtable Fortune hosted at its inaugural Brainstorm Finance conference earlier this year.
She cited Alibaba-spinoff Ant Financial and Tencent's WeChat as paragons of digital banking and payments.
CFI Research Fellow Dan Kleinbaum describes them—including their main delivery types—and their potential for helping institutions reach the underserved. Read this blog article from SME Finance Forum Member Accion about how financial institutions should think about their API strategies.
Article via the Center for Financial Inclusion, Accion.
TechnoServe partnered with the Argidius Foundation to launch the Catalyzing SGB Acceleration (CaSA) Initiative. Through this initiative, they will help a corporate partner to design and implement a shared-value pilot project to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, tapping into their experience working with entrepreneurs on three continents. CaSA will provide match funding for this pilot, reducing therisk for the corporate partner.
IFC began partnering with Bank Audi in 2015. IFC provided the company with detailed advice on how to launch a pioneering line of collateral-free small business loans—and since Bank Audi joined forces with IFC, it has disbursed 5,000 of these loans. The project is part of a larger effort by IFC to extend financial services to small businesses across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), creating jobs and jump-starting growth along the way.
