Most FIs have been on a digital journey for some years now with the goal of improving efficiency and leveraging technology to provide better financial services to clients. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment efforts, the digital agendas of many institutions have been unexpectedly accelerated or reengineered in a time of emergency. Movement away from physical branches and towards more mobile services and digital communication have become a necessity, and these changes in strategy have and will continue to trigger exposure to risks and the implementation of new practices at different levels of FIs.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the barriers that stood and stand in the way of development of women's entrepreneurship have aggravated and can harm the future of women's business even more.
Therefore, it is even more critical now to look at these barriers and find approaches and tools to mitigate the impact of the crisis on women and female business.

The coronavirus pandemic is posing a grave threat to small and growing businesses around the world. Women entrepreneurs make vital contributions to their local economies and are particularly vulnerable to the economic effects of the pandemic.

Financial institutions responding to the COVID-19 crisis?

This is a series of RSBP video lessons on stress testing basics, designed to help managers and staff at financial institutions (small business banks and MFIs) better understand what a stress test is and how to conduct stress testing at their institutions. The goal is to better understand how resilient a institution is under different adverse events. This is particularly important during the uncertain times associated the economic changes the COVID-19 situation has brought.

Vendor finance schemes provide an opportunity for financial institutions to deliver a unique product offering and to be more competitive in the SME financing market through the establishment of formal cooperation with equipment vendors looking to increase revenue.