In Central Asia a lot of financial institutions are talking about segmentation and client segments. At the same time, there still seems to be some uncertainty regarding what segmentation actually means, why it can be helpful to segment clients and how this can be done in practice.

The aim of this article is to give a short introduction to the topic.

The concept of financial inclusion has been around for quite some years under one or the other name and with one or the other focus area – micro finance, micro leasing, micro insurance, special programs for supporting women in business, special programs for supporting young entrepreneurs, programs for ensuring access to finance for the poor, etc.

We continue our series of publications of video clips on general gender issues and on specific issues of MSME financing for women-entrepreneurs.  The purpose of the series is to raise awareness among representatives of financial institutions and improve their knowledge on the specifics of work with women entrepreneurs and their financing.

The topics raised in the videos are aimed at forming a better understanding of women’s financial needs and preferences and are focused on promoting gender-intellectual financing which takes into account the gender specifics of both men and women. This knowledge will help financial institutions to gain competitive advantages and render quality services for women in business, thus contributing to the development of women's entrepreneurship.

This publication describes the journey towards digital transformation that financial institutions are gradually embarking onto. Its aim is to help demystify this growingly complex technological question, rife with buzzwords and new concepts. The main focus is on meaningful and practical aspects for FIs in transition economies, respectively in Central Asia.

In this paper, we take a closer look at the advantages of and conditions for separating different functions in crediting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose is to give financial institutions some food for thought on how they could, if indicated, optimize organizational structure, processes, procedures and staff requirements used to finance SMEs.