Financial Markets

At the G-20 summit in Cannes, France, IFC unveiled the SME Finance Forum, a platform for small and medium businesses to share financial data, research, and best practices.

One of many initiatives designed to increase access to financial services for households and small businesses, the forum highlights IFC’s integral role in supporting the G-20 leadership’s commitment to improving financial services for the poor. The SME Finance Forum will officially launch in spring 2012 and be managed by IFC’s Access to Finance Advisory Services.

“IFC’s partnership with the G-20 demonstrates our leadership in setting the agenda on improving financial access to households and businesses in developing countries,” said Peer Stein, IFC’s head of Access to Finance. “Addressing the obstacles faced by SMEs requires international development institutions, governments, and the private sector to continue to work together.”

IFC also publicly released in Cannes four reports aimed at helping the estimated 2.7 billion people and 400 million businesses worldwide that do not have access to financial services and products needed for growth.

The reports, which were endorsed by the G-20, are the "SME Finance Policy Guide," a reference guide for governments and regulators on financial inclusion strategies; “Strengthening Access to Finance for Women-Owned SMEs in Developing Countries;” “Scaling Up Access to Finance for Agricultural SMEs;” and "Financial Inclusion Data: Assessing the Landscape and Country-level Target Approaches." Reports are available for download here.

Part of IFC’s Role in GPFI

In September 2009 in Pittsburgh, G-20 leaders committed to improving financial access for the poor. Subsequently, G-20 leaders announced the establishment of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), an inclusive platform to institutionalize and carry forward work on financial inclusion.

IFC was designated one of the three implementing partners of the GPFI at the G-20 summit in Seoul last year, along with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). In January 2012, the World Bank joined the GPFI as an implementing partner.

IFC’s Access to Finance Advisory Services supported a series of initiatives aimed at helping individuals and households access formal financial services, including the SME Finance Challenge, a competition launched by the G-20 to identify models that enable access to finance for SMEs. IFC established a fund for winners of the challenge and has contributed to the fund.

At 2011 Cannes summit, the G-20 leadership lauded IFC’s role in setting up the fund, which mobilizes grant and risk capital for winning proposals from the Challenge and for scaling up successful SME financing models. They also called on IFC to continue supporting supply-side data collection work, in collaboration with CGAP and the IMF.

All the latest information on the IFC’s role in the G-20 financial inclusion agenda can be found on www.gpfi.org – a newly launched web platform, designed and developed by the Access to Finance Advisory Services for the GPFI.