As in most economies, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets are widely believed to be the engine of growth across. Over the last decade, many researchers and academics have tried to analyze the issue of MSME access to finance, emphasizing their dependence on credit and...

Banks in emerging markets are increasingly providing non-financial services to their SME clients, typically consisting of information sharing, training and consultancy. This study, published by IFC in partnership with the Austrian Government, is the first to explore reasons behind this trend,...

Emerging market economies have been experiencing high credit growth and high delinquency rates amongst retail banking customers in recent years. However, collections practices have not always kept pace with this rapid growth; many collectors still rely on relatively unstructured processes and...

The poor and other underserved populations in developing countries have unique financial service s needs. However, there is often a mismatch between what financial institutions offer and what underserved populations need or want. This product gap may reflect a lack of interest by financial...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which began as a health crisis in early 2020, has rapidly evolved to become an unprecedented economic crisis affecting global, national, and regional economies and billions of individuals around the world. This report analyzes the widespread implications of...