Gender Intelligence for Banks — Moving the Needle on Gender Equality This report is the result of a joint partnership between the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in Pakistan.
On June 29, 2017, the Kyrgyz Republic’s Credit Information Bureau “Ishenim” and Iceland-based CreditInfo Solutions commemorated the beginning of a strategic and technical partnership in a landmark shareholder agreement signing ceremony.
A joint report from the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion and the Institute of International Finance provides insight from SME Finance Forum members and friends, including MasterCard, ICICI Bank, Bancolombia, and BBVA Bancomer.
IDFC Bank is among India’s first private-sector banks to pilot digital financial services that leverage the country’s new Aadhaar-enabled payment systems (AEPS), which makes digital money more accessible and practical for everyday transactions than ever before. Now, to do anything from receiving government payments to buying groceries, all a customer in Royyuru needs is a unique Aadhaar identity number and fingerprint to authenticate the transaction.
The EBRD’s Women in Business programme is expanding into Tajikistan, making it the 17th country to benefit from improved financing and business advice for female entrepreneurs.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Banco Sabadell will provide EUR 800m to Spanish SMEs with the aim of supporting their investments and promoting the development of new projects, particularly in the services and industrial sectors. The EIB will grant a EUR 400m loan to Banco Sabadell, to which the Spanish bank will add an additional EUR 400m of its own.
The agricultural credit outreach in Pakistan has increased to 3.27 million farmers at end June 2017 from 2.40 million farmers last year. The State Bank of Pakistan explored new financing products, value chain financing, warehouse receipts financing, digitalisation of credit, execution of credit guarantee scheme for small and marginalised farmers, and inclusion of microfinance institutions/rural support programs for catering the credit needs of marginalised farmers.
SME Finance Forum member, IDLC Finance Ltd., has launched its first open end mutual fund named IDLC Balanced Fund. IDLC plan is to offer 10 innovative products such as venture capital and private equity and a similar one for small investors.
One in five people in Nambia are employed in the SME sector and contribute over 12 percent to the gross domestic product. Bank Windhoek has experienced that in addition to financing, the major need of start-ups and small and medium businesses is mentoring. Mentorship guides SMEs on how to run a successful and sustainable business.
The global unbanked and underbanked market continues to grow exponentially each year, and will reach an estimated three billion individuals and over 250 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) over the coming decade. This segment of the banking industry has the potential to reach over $150bn, and both new and traditional banking entities continue to seek opportunities to provide competitive solutions to this underserved corner of the market.
