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Virtual Roundtable Series on COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts #8: DFIs Preserving SMEs Liquidity and Solvency
By invitation only
Time after time, we hear that the role of the development finance institutions (DFIs) is critical for financial and economic development, bridging the finance and knowledge gap for the private sector in emerging markets. While DFIs usually have a positive impact on economic growth, their contribution to addressing global challenges becomes even more critical in a crisis situation, such as now, when the COVID-19 crisis has turned the world upside down. Access to working capital in times of pandemic is one of the major challenges for small businesses worldwide, but also a learning opportunity to many, which requires creative strategies and faster policy responses.
Knowledge, if not updated continuously, loses its relevance. Therefore, the SME Finance Forum's aim is to constantly provide these learning opportunities, identifying good practices, and sharing knowledge among its members, while convening thought leaders, industry practitioners, and experts of the SME finance industry. COVID-19 has created a new opportunity to better serve our network. As a response, we’ve organized weekly virtual sessions on mitigation efforts to provide the best examples of how institutions cope with COVID-19 impact.
Next Thursday, May 14, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the Forum organizes the eighth virtual roundtable with the participation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Development Bank of Canada (BDC), KfW and its subsidiary DEG of Germany, the CDC Group of the United Kingdom, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Representatives of these institutions will share their strategies, and new frameworks put in place to help mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, and how SMEs could benefit from a coordinated response among DFIs by providing better financial solutions.
What you will learn
• How COVID-19 crisis response is different from previous responses.
• Strategies, services, and products put in place to cope with the crisis.
• How to make sure that SMEs don’t get left out.
• How important coordination is among the DFI community.
Host and Moderator
Matthew Gamser, CEO, SME Finance Forum
About the speakers
Ines Rocha is the Director for Financial Products, SME Finance & Development Team at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Ines currently designs advisory and investment products to SMEs. The SME F&D Group has a mandate to grow and expand the Small Business Initiative at the EBRD through an integrated toolbox of products including in new business areas that can support SMEs. Ines has circa 20 years of experience in the financial industry and in capital markets. Prior to the current role, Ines was a Senior Banker in the Financial Institutions team covering mainly structured product and capital market investments in bank and non-bank financial institutions across EBRD’s Countries of Operation. Ines joined the EBRD in 2005 integrating the Treasury department where she provided advice on structuring and pricing of derivatives/capital market transactions and local currency across all Countries of Operation. Before EBRD, Ines worked in the Equity Capital Markets division of UBS Investment Bank in London where she covered the EMEA region. Ines has also worked for the Central Bank of Portugal focusing on ECB/Eurosystem matters. A Portuguese national, Ines holds a MSc degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Michel Bergeron is the Chief Strategy Officer of the Business Development of Canada (BDC). Appointed in 2018, he is responsible for designing, developing and communicating BDC’s overall strategic direction and vision for the future. He leads a multidisciplinary team focusing on corporate strategy and initiatives, digital transformation, partnerships and government relations, economic and market research, and innovation. He is also in charge of the implementation of an integrated approach to develop new products and solutions across all BDC’s lines of business. Mr. Bergeron has over 20 years of private, public and parapublic experience, dealing with financial sector issues, strategic planning, digital experience, communication, branding and international trade matters. Before his current position, he was BDC’s Senior Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs for over 5 years, overseeing branding and advertising, client experience, economic analysis, corporate communications, marketing, public and media relations, research, and digital experience. He joined BDC in 1999 and has held a variety of field and corporate positions during his career with the bank, including Senior Manager, Loans; Director, Corporate Planning; Director, Strategic and Business Solutions; and Vice President of Corporate Relations. Mr. Bergeron began his career in the federal government, where he worked in international trade negotiations for the Department of Finance. He is a board member of Futurpreneur and Jack.org and president of the marketing network of Québec. Michel is the Founding Chair of The Montreal Group, a global forum for development banks focused on micro, small and medium enterprise. Mr. Bergeron holds Law degrees from Laval University and Dalhousie University, and a Master of International Relations degree from Laval University. He also holds the Corporate Director (ICD.D) designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Jessica Espinoza is the Senior Investment Manager and Global Gender Finance Lead at DEG, the German development finance institution (DFI). She has extensive experience sourcing, structuring and executing debt, mezzanine and equity deals in emerging markets with a strong focus on SMEs. She is a SteerCo member of the 2X Challenge, a DFI initiative aiming to mobilize US$ 3 Billion of private capital by 2020 to boost women’s economic empowerment and support women-led SMEs. Jessica also serves as a mentor for high-impact entrepreneurs with the international network Endeavor. Prior to joining DEG, she was a Member of the Management Board at ProCredit Bank Nicaragua and part of the Group Funding team at ProCredit Holding. She managed the Africa Regional Office of MicroFinance Transparency in Ghana and led a flagship program to promote responsible financial inclusion across Sub-Saharan Africa and South America.
Matthias Adler is the Head of Division for Infrastructure and Financial Sector in West Africa, KfW Entwicklungsbank. Matthias holds a master’s degree in Economics (University of Tübingen). For several years, he has been involved in both project and concept work as principal financial sector economist and microfinance specialist. Since 2014, he has been serving in his current position as Head of Division Infrastructure and financial Sector West Africa. Before he worked as Pro-gram Manager in the West Africa Region (1993-1998), as Sector Economist (1999-2002) and as a macroeconomist for West and East Africa from 2002 to 2006. From 2007 to 2013, he has served as focal point for KfW’s microfinance activities, and the cross-cutting issue of „respon-sible finance”. Furthermore, M. Adler is member of the Board and Chairman of the HR&Governance Committee of Advans SA SICAR, a Luxemburg based investment company with a portfolio of Microfinance Banks in Africa and Asia. The Division Infrastructure and Financial Sector West Africa has a focus, inter alia, on renew-ables energies and MSME finance. Specifically, he oversees a portfolio of two large reform partnership programs in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, clean energy generation projects, regional transmission lines and works on mainstreaming green finance in the West Africa region.
Wasim Tahir is the CDC Group's Financial Institutions Sector Strategist. Wasim is responsible for developing the investment and development strategy of their second largest sector by AuM. Geographic scope covers Africa and South Asia; product scope covers Equity, Debt, Guarantees and Funds. Wasim's topic expertise spans capital markets, asset management, transaction banking, retail banking, consumer finance, payments and insurance. His functional expertise includes strategy, business development, market sizing, risk, regulatory reform, and organisational design. Wasim gained his experience through roles at Credit Suisse and Lloyds Banking Group, and through 20+ projects with Oliver Wyman and Boston Consulting Group. Wasim graduated from the University of Oxford and is a CFA® charterholder.
Jeroen Harteveld is the Portfolio Manager for MASSIF, the financial inclusion fund that FMO manages on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. MASSIF has a committed portfolio of over USD 550 million and is active in 40 different countries. Jeroen has been working at FMO for over 15 years. In this timeframe he worked as an Investment Officer in FMO’s Financial Institutions department. Prior, Jeroen worked at various other departments, including, Infrastructure, Manufacturing & Services and the Emerging Markets Fund. He is a Chartered Controller and has a master as well as an executive master in Finance & Control from Nyenrode Business University (The Netherlands). Jeroen wrote his thesis on managing distressed asset portfolios in emerging markets.
Martin Holtmann is the Manager of Digital Finance & Microfinance at IFC. Martin started in banking with Deutsche Bank in Buenos Aires. As Project Manager and Managing Director, he spent twelve years with IPC, an access to finance and bank management consulting firm. From 1995 until 2001 he was the resident Manager of the EBRD Russia Small Business Fund. Prior to joining IFC, Martin was Lead Financial Specialist at CGAP, where he managed the Technology Team and also headed the “Retail Advisory Service”. As a faculty member of the Boulder Microfinance Training Program since 1996, Martin has helped to train more than 4000 banking executives and microfinance professionals. Martin is a graduate of the L.B. Pearson UWC in Victoria, B.C., Canada, and holds Master’s degrees from Trier University (Business Economics) and Harvard University (Public Administration).
A summary of the roundtable will be posted in the blog section here.
For more information: please contact: Khrystyna Kushnir.
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Virtual Roundtable Series on COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts #7- Making Adjustments: Collection Strategies, Credit Scoring and Regulatory Forbearance
By invitation only
In an unprecedented effort to temporarily suspend SMEs' debt payments and avoid foreclosures, negotiations and agreements are at full speed around the world. SMEs are having a hard time adjusting and keeping business moving, while financial institutions are assessing their collection strategies and reviewing protocols to secure cash flow and minimize costs. More than ever, credit scoring models require a more thorough evaluation and adjustment. On the policy side, business continuity puts regulatory agencies under pressure to provide more clarity, thus needed flexibility to assist struggling customers affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharing knowledge and experiences has always been a core service offered by the SME Finance Forum to our members. Two-thirds of the respondents of our 2019 Member Survey mentioned that they acquired new knowledge relevant to their work by participating in the Forum's learning activities. The virtual roundtable series on COVID-19 mitigation efforts offer the opportunity to learn best practices from highly respected peers, and to discuss the challenges and innovations on SME finance from financial and non-financial institutions in 190 countries of our membership network.
On Thursday, May 7, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, during the seventh virtual roundtable hosted by the SME Finance Forum, representatives of banks and credit bureaus will discuss how they are adjusting credit risk assessments and scoring of creditworthiness, respectively, due to COVID-19 emergency. The panel discussion will be joined by senior executives from Standard Chartered, which operates in 60 countries around the world, WeBank, which works with Chinese underbanked individuals and SMEs, the International Committee on Credit Reporting (ICCR), convened and chaired by the World Bank since 2007, and Experian, a global leader in consumer and business credit reporting in 37 countries. Together, they will provide insights on the measures and adjustments being put in place to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on SME finance.
What you will learn:
First responses in collections that institutions are implementing as the situation evolves.
How institutions are adjusting scores and risks due to COVID-19 delinquencies.
What immediate measures of forbearance are put in place.
What changes are envisioned in the future, as we move from emergency to recovery.
Host and moderator
Matthew Gamser, CEO, SME Finance Forum
Opening Remarks
Alfonso Garcia Mora is the Global Director for the Finance Competitiveness and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice at the World Bank Group (WBG). He manages the FCI Global Teams related to Stability & Integrity; Financial Infrastructure, Inclusion & Access; Long Term Finance; and Crisis & Disaster Risk Management. He joined the Bank in January 2013, and since then Alfonso has led various projects in Latin America, East Asia Pacific, Middle East and Eastern Europe advising Governments, supervisors and regulators in projects related to financial sector development, access to finance, banking crisis and resolution, capital markets and financial regulation. Alfonso has participated in several Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAP) as mission chief and specialist. Currently he represents the WBG in different committees of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Prior to joining the Bank, Alfonso was Partner Managing Director at Analistas Financieros Internacionales Consulting Group. Alfonso holds a PhD in Economics from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, a Master of Finance from the Catholic University of Leuven and has also served as a visiting PhD student at Boston University. He has lectured and published extensively on banking and financial sector issues.
Speakers
Kamal Hingorani is the Global Head of Collections for Retail Banking at Standard Chartered Bank. He is based in Singapore and manages a portfolio covering 25 markets across the bank’s footprint in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Standard Chartered Bank offers the complete suite of retail banking products covering credit cards and personal loans, mortgage and auto loans, wealth management and business banking. He has 25 years of work experience with 20 years in Retail Banking and 5 years in the Telecom industry. His retail banking experience covers Sales, Credit and Operational risk and Internal Audit. He has managed the End to end credit including Credit policy, Underwriting and Collections with experience across Frontline Country and Group leadership roles. He specializes in risk management and has worked out of India, UAE, Singapore and Kenya managing markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Tyler Aveni is the Head of International Partnerships for WeBank. Tyler leads strategic international fintech partnerships (banks and non-banks) in developing new business opportunities for WeBank. Prior to joining WeBank, Tyler was country director for SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator in Kuala Lumpur & Hong Kong, the lead China analyst for CGAP (World Bank Group) and an office manager for Planet Finance in Beijing. His former project work involved consulting B2B Fintechs, microfinance companies & online lenders on market entry and expansion strategy across APAC, as well as writing industry reports on China’s digital financial market. Tyler is fluent in Mandarin and holds degrees from Williams College.
Neil Munroe is the Deputy Chair at International Committee on Credit Reporting (ICCR), and Deputy Managing Director at BIIA. Neil has 35 years’ experience in the financial services and credit reporting industries. For over 24 years he was with Equifax where he held a number of positions in business development and operations including that of Sales Director for Equifax’s Consumer Information Services credit reporting business in the UK. For the last 12 years at Equifax he was Director responsible for External Affairs and Communications which involved extensive customer, industry body and government liaison, monitoring regulatory and other external affairs that could influence the credit reporting industry in the UK. In March 2015 Neil Munroe formed CRS Insights Limited which provides strategic and operational consulting services to all stakeholders involved in credit reporting systems, including data suppliers and users, credit reporting service providers (private credit bureau and public credit registers) and regulator/policymakers. Neil is a founding member of the International Committee on Credit Reporting (ICCR) that is hosted by the World Bank and was personally involved in the creation of the World Bank Principles of Credit Reporting, the recognised standards for the industry. He was elected Deputy Chair in November 2019. Neil was a member of the Executive Management Committee of ACCIS, the Association of Consumer Credit Information Suppliers, from 2007 to 2018, holding the position of President from 2009. He is currently Deputy Managing Director of the Business Information Industry Association (BIIA), which is registered in Hong Kong and whose membership consists of more than 70 information companies. Neil is also a member of the UK Chartered Institute of Credit Management and an advisor on consumer credit matters to the Institute’s Technical Advisory Committee.
Tony Hadley is the Senior Vice President of Public Policy for Experian. Tony leads the US domestic and global regulatory and public policy functions for the Experian group of companies. His team manages legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to data-driven marketing, data analytics, credit reporting and risk management, financial markets, health IT, and e-commerce. Tony oversees similar activities in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. Tony communicates and aligns Experian’s position on legislative, regulatory, and policy issues with its clients and stakeholders, including multi-lateral groups, international organizations and policymakers, the US Congress, regulatory agencies, and consumer and professional groups. He represents the corporation’s interests before trade alliances including the Association of National Advertisers, Consumer Data Industry Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Financial Services Association, and Consumer Bankers Association. He aligns policy with several international organizations, including the Trans-Atlantic Business Council; the US-Brazil Business Council; the US-India Business Council, and the US-ASEAN Business Alliance.
Valeria Salomao Garcia is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank. With over 25 years of experience in banking, her areas of expertise include banking supervision, risk management, and financial analysis. Since joining the World Bank in 2010, she has been actively participating in assessments as well as delivering technical assistance worldwide. Prior to joining the World Bank she worked for several years for the Central Bank of Brazil. Ms. Salomao Garcia’s professional experience also includes serving as Director at Fitch Ratings, acting as a lead analyst for large banks operating in Brazil, and a committee member for banks worldwide. Prior key responsibilities in the private sector also include serving as a Risk Management senior official at a large private bank in Brazil, leading the credit risk and capital allocation units.
A summary of the roundtable will be posted in the blog section here.
For more information: please contact: Khrystyna Kushnir.
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Virtual Roundtable Series on COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts #6-Banking Women Entrepreneurs during COVID-19
Featuring Santander, BRAC Bank, and BHD Leon experiences
By invitation only
Financial inclusion for women has always been challenging, particularly in emerging and developing markets where women entrepreneurs have lower access to capital, which severely restricts their progress and ability to contribute to the national economies. The COVID-19 crisis makes financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs even more challenging as it poses serious threats to the financial stability of SMEs, and especially to women entrepreneurs. A recent policy brief, prepared by the OECD, highlights that despite women follow more risk-averse business strategies, women-operated businesses may be at higher risk of closing during periods of reduced or zero revenue.
Therefore, promoting good practices in women entrepreneur financing has always been an important focus of the SME Finance Forum. As part of its “Learn” member services, the Forum has organized numerous learning sessions, both through webinars and physical meetings, to showcase experiences and good practice examples from financial and non-financial service providers, that work to accelerate women financial empowerment, in hope that more of those good practices are widely adopted by other institutions so women entrepreneurs can be better served.
In the sixth virtual roundtable, organized by the SME Finance Forum on Thursday, April 30, 2020, at 8:00 a.m., you will learn how institutions serving women-owned businesses in emerging markets are addressing these challenges, supporting them with innovative financial solutions during these unprecedented times of COVID-19 pandemic.
Join the discussion with Banco Santander Argentina, the largest private commercial bank in Argentina, BHD Leon, a commercial bank in the Dominican Republic with more than one million customers, and SME Finance Forum member BRAC Bank, in Bangladesh, winner of the 2019 Global SME Finance Awards for the “women-owned SME Bank of the year” category.
Moderator
José Etchegoyen is a Senior Global Banking on Women Specialist at IFC. José has over 20 years of experience in international banking and emerging markets, focused on unbanked or underserved populations. Currently, at IFC, he leads advisory services, product development, and strategy for the Banking on Women business line in Latin America. He also leads mentoring and training activities on best practices in Banking on Women. Prior to joining IFC, he served as Director of Financial Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services in Washington D.C. and Principal Banking Solutions Specialist at SAS Institute in Miami, Florida. He also worked in leading FIs in the USA and Latin America, such as Citibank and Banco Santander. José holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International Business Strategy and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management (Evanston, USA).
Speakers
María Gabriela Marine is the Head of Women and SME Strategy at BHD Leon in the Dominican Republic, and the Marketing Manager, with over 17 years of experience in the Dominican market. She is an expert in negotiation, marketing systems, franchising, and branding. She develops communication strategies for all Banco BHD Leon's partnerships. Currently leads the strategy of marketing of women and SMEs segments, among others. She is responsible for launching and positioning the "MUJER" credit card business and the updating of its value proposition. She designs and implements marketing strategies for the Women's Market (Gender Strategy for SMEs and individuals) for BHD Leon Bank, thus becoming the brand leader for Dominican women in financial services. Maria Gabriela also leads the development and implementation of the non-financial services value proposition for SMEs, and the positioning of the new brand "OPEN for SME's."
Pura Mendez is the Women Segment Manager at Banco BHD León in the Dominican Republic, in charge of the implementation of the bank’s gender strategy. This includes development of value propositions for both individuals and SMEs, overseeing metrics and scorecard compliance and evolution, and defining action plans to improve team results. She is also responsible for training sales personnel, coordinating internal communications, and analyzing Women’s Market data to identify patterns and improve value proposition and develop tactical plans for the segment.
Gisela Babbaro is the Product Head, Banca Women, and Select of Banco Santander Argentina, the largest private commercial bank in Argentina. She is a project leader with over 18 years of experience in the Argentinian financial market. She has a vast experience in launching products for select customers, developing new customer experience models and leveraging widely used technology and creating value to the customer to maximize their experience with the bank’s brand. Currently, she is responsible for two segments: Select and Women, and she also leads marketing strategies to attract new customers adding value in order to keep them engaged with the brand and to ensure customer loyalty. She is an expert in strategy design and implementation towards women empowerment and inclusion in the financial market. Her work includes the development of financial and non-financial value proposals.
Syed Abdul Momen is the Head of SME Banking at BRAC Bank in Bangladesh. He took over as the Head of SME Banking on July 13, 2017. He joined BRAC Bank in August 2005 and he has 13 years of multifaceted experience in the Banking Sector primarily concentrating in Technology, Operations, and Business Functions. During the first 2 years in BRAC Bank, he restructured technology infrastructure and played a crucial role in the Core Banking Platform migration. In August 2007, Momen was posted in BRAC Afghanistan Bank as Chief Operating Officer (COO) on a 2-year secondment. During his tenure in Afghanistan, he looked after the bank's SME Business & expanded the bank's network in three provinces. He has also contributed to the development of SME Banking Policies & Guidelines of Central Bank of Afghanistan. After his return from Afghanistan in 2009, he joined BRAC Bank’s SME Division and ran a special collection project, which was portfolio’s prime concern. After successfully driving the countrywide collection initiative, he was appointed as the Head of Small Business in July 2010 and since then he is leading the industry’s largest small business portfolio. His team was awarded Chairman's Excellence Award in 2012 for extraordinary business achievement. Mr. Momen started his career in ANZ Grindlays Bank in 1999 where he played an instrumental role in the migration of Core Banking Platform in Middle East & South Asia region including Bangladesh, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Nepal, Sri Lanka after the acquisition of Grindlays Bank’s operation by Standard Chartered Bank. He was also instrumental in Standard Chartered Bank’s IT service delivery & business process centralization Project. Mr. Momen is a Computer Communications Graduate from Middlesex University, UK with distinction. During his 13 years of banking career, he attended numerous seminars, training, and workshops in and out of the country.
A summary of the roundtable will be posted in the blog section here.
For more information: please contact: Khrystyna Kushnir.
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Virtual Roundtable Series on COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts #5 - Risk Sharing in the Biggest Crisis Ever
By invitation only
To take stock of the collective efforts of institutions and governments around the world regarding the impact of COVID-19 outbreak, the SME Finance Forum organizes weekly virtual roundtables designed to support members by providing a space to share experiences and knowledge through the industry’s leading voices.
On Thursday, April 23, 2020, at 8 a.m., the Forum will host the fifth virtual roundtable of this series to discuss how the negative economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic is mitigated in Europe. Our main speakers, Katrin Sturm, the Secretary-General of the European Association of Guarantee Institutions (AECM), will explain the role of the EU in supporting guarantee institutions, and Haesong Kwon, Deputy Director of International Affairs Team in Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, KODIT Korea, will talk about the role of the Korean Government in that matter. A panel of fellow discussants, Mark Scicluna Bartoli, Executive, EU & Institutional Affairs, at Bank of Valletta, representing the WSBI, Abdelmoughite Abdelmoumen, the Head of Strategy and Cooperation at CCG Finance (Morocco), Giuseppe Gramigna, the Chief Economist of the US SBA, Ahmad Islah, Head of Risk of CGC Egypt, and Maria Laura Garcia Conejero, General Manager of FOGABA in Argentina, will further discuss how institutions are affected by new regulatory initiatives, and the measures being taken at a national level, amidst the biggest crisis ever.
Speakers
Katrin Sturm is the Secretary-General of the European Association of Guarantee Institutions (AECM). Katrin has joined AECM, which has 48 members from 29 countries in Europe, as Secretary-General in November 2013. Katrin started working in Brussels in May 2001. Prior to AECM, Katrin worked for the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), for the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV) as well as for the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses (ZDH) being at the same time the EU Representative of the Association of German Guarantee Banks (VDB). She graduated from the University of Passau (Germany) in Law taking part in an ERASMUS exchange program with the University of Angers (France), then passed the second state exam in law in Potsdam (Germany), and finally acquired a Master of Law from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) taking part in an exchange program with the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Katrin is a qualified bank clerk and Honorary Consultant of Taiwan SMEG, a credit guarantee institution specialized in supporting SMEs in Taiwan in getting access to finance. Next to her mother tongue, German Katrin speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish, understands Dutch, and reads Portuguese. She is married and has three children.
Haesong Kwon is a Deputy Director of the International Affairs Team in Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT). He has been in charge of various tasks in the KODIT, including international affairs, credit examination and guarantee supply to SMEs, and debt management since 2011. He participated in the knowledge-sharing project organized by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Korea for the development of the Honduras credit guarantee system with the Korea Development Institute. He held a working-level council meeting with the credit guarantee institution of Asian countries to share the credit guarantee system of each country. He holds a BA in Law from Hongik University and Business Administration from Korea National Open University, Republic of Korea.
Discussants
Mark Scicluna Bartoli is the Executive of EU & Institutional Affairs, Bank of Valletta. He has been running the EU & Institutional Affairs section of Bank of Valletta through its Malta and Brussels offices since setting them up in 2012. He is tasked with improving access to finance for SMEs through the provision of EU funded financial instruments. Over the past six years, Mark has mobilized over 140 million Euro in private funds for Maltese SMEs. Between 2004 and 2012 Mark was tasked with setting up the EU funding unit within Malta Enterprise, which successfully tapped over €45million in EU funding for Maltese enterprises. Prior to 2004, Mark worked as a consultant with Arthur D Little in Cambridge, UK, and the EU Commission in Brussels. Mark studied life sciences at the University of Malta and later specialised in environmental assessment and evaluation as a Chevening Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. On a personal level, Mark is engaged by the EU Commission and United Nations as an expert in the fields of access to finance and environment and is a member of the Board of Directors of the European Investment Fund. Specialties: EU funded risk-sharing instruments, EU project implementation, SME policy, and Banking regulation.
Abdelmoughite Abdelmoumen is the Head of Strategy and Cooperation at CCG Finance (Morocco), he has an experience totaling 18 years in public and private sectors. Prior to joining CCG Finance, he served as a Senior Manager at the strategy & financial consulting practices at Deloitte. As the Head of Strategy and Cooperation, Abdelmoughite is in charge of guarantee/financing product design, strategic planning, special projects and international cooperation. Abdelmoughite holds a master’s degree in Financial Engineering from Sophia Antipolis University (France) and a bachelor’s degree in Management from the ENCG Business School (Morocco).
Giuseppe Gramigna is an SME Consultant, and SBA Chief Economist. Giuseppe’s work focuses on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He advises national, multilateral and non- profit entities on how to best assist SMEs. His area of expertise includes: (i) national SME policies, (ii) designing SME assistance programs, (iii) program benchmarking, performance and impact evaluations, (iv) portfolio credit risk monitoring and assessments, (v) portfolio and partner risk management. Giuseppe works with international organizations such as the World Bank, OECD, APEC, and the ASEAN. He severs on the scientific committees of several academic institutions and publications. He also serves on the advisory board of several non-profit entities that assist SMEs. At the U.S. Small Business Administration, Giuseppe serves as the Agency’s Chief Economist, where he advises the Agency on economic trends affecting small businesses and leads research on economic impact evaluations and strategic planning. He served as the Chair of the interagency Subcommittee on Evaluating Business Technical Assistance Programs (E-BTAP), a group responsible for developing best practices for implementing economic impact evaluations within the U.S. Federal government. He also serves as the U.S. Permanent Delegate and Vice-Chair to the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship. Before joining the U.S. Small Business Administration, Giuseppe headed the consulting firm, DASSI Corp. His other areas of interest include the construction industries, tourism, information services, and regional economic development. Giuseppe earned a BA in economics from The State University of New York at Purchase, and a graduate degree in economics from The New School For Social Research. His academic research focused on how changes in financial markets affect small business lending, and on labor migration during periods of economic transition. He later worked in the equity research department of a major investment bank, where he focused on natural resource industries. From 1996 to 2001, Giuseppe served as vice president and then president of the SUNY Purchase College Alumni Association., He also served as Alumni Representative to the Purchase College Council, a gubernatorial appointed oversight body.
Ahmed Islah is the Chief Risk Officer for CGC since September 2018. Mr. Islah has worked during his career which spans over 16 years in the risk department of many financial institutions including banks (Piraeus Bank, NSGB), private equity firms (Al-Ahli for Development and Investments) and financial leasing companies (Nile Financial Leasing), he also is very experienced in training and instructing professionals as he accumulated 8 years of experience as finance and investment instructor in many international universities and organizations (American University in Cairo, Cambridge Kipp University, Arab Administrative, and Development Organization). Mr. Islah is one of few CFA Charter holders in Egypt, he is also certified by many other institutions in the finance and investment (American University in Cairo, Egyptian Banking Institute). Mr. Islah is a regular member of Chartered Financial Analysts institute U.S.A.; he is also a member of the Egyptian Society of Investment Professionals.
Maria Laura Garcia Conejero is the General Manager of FOGABA (Argentina). María Laura is a lawyer with an extensive professional career in both the public and private sectors. She was the Head of Advisers to the Undersecretariat for Deregulation and Economic Organization of the Argentine Ministry of Economy. She served as the Deputy General Manager and General Manager attached to the Presidency of the Banco Hipotecario Nacional (the National Mortgage Bank). In the private sector, she worked for the Recovery Group as the General Manager of the Argentine branch. Later, she was responsible for launching activities in Brazil, and she acted as an advisor to the group. Since 2016, she is the General Manager of FOGABA, the Buenos Aires Guarantee Fund, articulating the public and private spheres, where she reinvigorated the Fund's activity for the financial inclusion of SMEs.
**
A summary of the roundtable will be posted here soon.
For more information: please contact: Khrystyna Kushnir.
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Virtual Roundtables
Avr. 16, 2020
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2020-04-15 20:00:00
2020-04-15 20:00:00
Virtual Roundtable Series on COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts #4: DBS on Digital Relief
By invitation only
The SME Finance Forum organizes this weekly virtual roundtable series to provide its members with opportunities to share and learn about the impacts of COVID-19 on their MSME clients and their own institutions, on a continuous and real-time basis. The 75-minute session also allows the members to share their practical experiences especially strategies and initiatives they are taking to help their clients cope with this unprecedented crisis.
The fourth roundtable of this series will be held on Thursday, April 16, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. EST, and will feature DBS Bank, a member of the SME Finance Forum and one of Asia’s leading banks with over 9 million customers in 18 markets. Chloe Huang, Team Lead, SME Business Engagement, SME Banking, and David Kah Seng Hui, Regional Head, SME Business Innovations & Solutions at DBS will be sharing the bank’s program and experiences with special focus on digital offering. The speakers will also present DBS’ digital relief package for one of the severely impacted industries, Food & Beverage, among other measures implemented to help their SME clients. This session will be joined by two discussants Jesse Weinberg, Head of SME Customer Segment, FNB in Africa, and Thomas DeLuca, CEO and Founder of AMP Credit Technologies.
Speakers
Chloe Huang is the Team Lead, SME Business Engagement, SME Banking at DBS Bank Ltd. Chloe currently heads the SME Business Engagement team at DBS Bank. Her team looks after the prospect, customer and partner engagement programs, and works closely with the various product, channel and sales teams to strategically achieve business objectives of acquisition and conversion. In the current role, there are secondary objectives like driving internal and external collaboration opportunities for SME Banking and propagating digital customer behaviour (Digital transaction modes, online account opening & online loan applications). As part of SME Business Engagement, she also leads collaboration initiatives with DBS Foundation Ltd, a not-for-profit company established to strengthen DBS’ corporate social responsibility across the region. The initiatives drive social impact in 2 ways, (1) offering support Social Enterprises in their business growth through tailored products and mentorship programs, (2) engaging traditional SMEs to educate them on including social responsibility as part of their business proposition. Chloe brings with her 13 years of experience in strategic customer engagement planning. Prior to joining DBS, Chloe worked in DDB Group Singapore (RAPP), managing regional clients like Courts, Maybank, Cerebos and Electrolux SEA.
David Hui is the Regional Head, SME Business Innovations & Solutions, SME Banking at DBS Bank Ltd. David currently heads the SME Business Innovations & Solutions team at DBS Bank. His team is responsible for driving industry-led innovations with a focus on delivering fuss-free and easy banking to SME customers with an emphasis on delighting customers through intuitive journeys. Supported by business analytics and the bank’s digital assets, David’s team has the responsibility to continuously improve the key journeys that are important to a SME, easy and quick access to credit, and simple ways to onboard an account for business operations. He also works closely with other stakeholders within the bank to improve the transactional banking journeys. Making banking invisible for DBS’s SME customers is of latest focus for David and the team, where the objective is centered on creating hyper personalised experiences for the customer through various interaction points, always working towards the wow factor with an aim to delight. Together with external industry collaborations with some of the best-known companies in this field, the team is working to reimagine banking in its simplest form. David graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management with a double major in Finance from the Singapore Management University, and previously was Head of SME Customer Experience for DBS India. Prior to DBS, David had worked in Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital with wide operational experience in OTC Derivatives across various asset classes.
Discussants
Jesse Weinberg is the Head of SME Customer Segment at FNB. He joined the bank in 2010 to launch PayPal as a business product offering to the South African market. Since then he has enjoyed various transactional banking roles within FNB, including the redesign and implementation of the eBucks for Business Programme in 2012. Prior to joining FNB, Jesse had jointly-founded and managed two successful businesses in the IT and plant hire industries, one of which was later acquired by a listed telecom company at the time. Jesse is passionate about entrepreneurship and small business development. In his current role, he is committed to finding ways in which FNB can help support the development and growth of SMEs in South Africa.
Thomas DeLuca is the CEO and Founder of AMP Credit Technologies, a Hong Kong-based financial technology company that provides an outsourced processing platform for banks and other institutional lenders to lend to small businesses based upon their cash flow, on a profitable and scalable basis. AMP’s proven proprietary loan management system leverages concepts and principles from microfinance, payment processing, social media, and ‘big data’—together with more traditional loan underwriting principles—to help banks lend to their small business customers on a profitable and efficient basis. Prior to founding Advanced Merchant Payments, he was a co-founder of Planet Payment, Inc., a multi-currency payment processor publicly-traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market, and dedicated to enabling internationally-focused processors, acquiring banks, and merchants to accept, process and reconcile credit card transactions in multiple currencies. He started his payment career in the legal department of American Express, where he provided legal and strategic advice to the merchant services division regarding electronic commerce matters, consumer privacy, marketing, and general commercial issues pertaining to credit card transactions. He received his B.A. Degree, M.B.A., and Juris Doctor (J.D.) from St. Johns University and his Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Trade and Business Transactions from Fordham University in New York.
A summary of this event is posted here.
For members, the recordings and available slides will be posted on the Member's Portal soon.
For more information: please contact: Khrystyna Kushnir.
Repository
Weekly Member Update Summary on COVID-19 - April 13, 2020
Weekly Member Update Summary on COVID-19 - April 6, 2020
Weekly Member Update Summary on COVID-19 - March 30, 2020
Weekly Member Update Summary on COVID-19 - March 23, 2020
WebEx
SME FINANCE FORUM
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Event
Avr. 14, 2020
Online
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2020-04-13 20:00:00
2020-04-13 20:00:00
Free COVID-19 Business Survival Bootcamps
African Management Institute (AMI) is offering a FREE Virtual Business Survival Bootcamp for entrepreneurs and business owners across Africa.
This is a challenging and uncertain time for Africa’s enterprises – from solo entrepreneurs to small and medium-sized enterprises and even large companies. Many companies are preparing to work remotely and planning for the business threats posed by COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Smaller businesses, in particular, maybe unsure of how to respond and adapt in a time of reduced spending and uncertain business activity. AMI invites SMEs to join a Bootcamp focused on Financial Forecasting and Cost Management in an Economic Slowdown. It will include 1 x 90-minute webinar and 2 weeks access to online tools to support entrepreneurs as their teams, as well as online networking with entrepreneurs across the continent.
SMEs can learn more and register for the Bootcamp here.
More about AMI:
The African Management Institute enables ambitious businesses across Africa to thrive through practical tools and training. Our programs combine online and mobile tools with in-person workshops and on-the-job practice and support. We've directly trained over 20,000 SMEs in 15 African countries, and have worked with numerous partners, including SME Finance Forum Members KCB and Equity Bank.
Notes:
‘We partnered with AMI who are skilled at giving competencies to business people...the training is very different, you may not have noted, but it is practical things that you do in your business.’’
- Naomi Ndele, KCB Bank Group Head of SME Banking and Agribusiness
Andrea Warriner | Director of Partnerships
M: +27 66 058 2188 | www.africanmanagers.org
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SME FINANCE FORUM
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