IFCS BANKING ON WOMEN (BOW) PROGRAM:

INVESTMENT AND ADVISORY SERVICES

March, 2015
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and
accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or
independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

GLOBAL CONTEXT
Women are driving the global economy
US$ 20,000,000
millions

870 million women

30% of registered
companies globally

in consumption by
women globally (HBR)1.

will participate in the

economy for the first time
in 2020.

have been created by

women. .

Therefore it is a market bigger

than
China
and
India
combined and its estimated to
reach US $28,000,000 million
in 2014.

and become major

banking clients or have
the potential to do so

1/

2/

HBR: Harvard Business Review

CTI: Center for Talent Innovation

The female labor force grows.

Women who did not
participate in the economy will
get a job or start your own
business in this decade.

85%..
. of women are identified as
the main decision makers in
the household

women entrepreneurs are

changing the landscape of the
global economy , creating
sustainable jobs and economic
growth.

62%..
of women are identified as
the main sources of assets 2

FEMALE ROLES: CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES BY REGION -LARGELY BY SOCIAL NORMS

% of Female Top Managers

% of Full-time Female Workers

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

0.0

50.0
39.1

ECA

38.5

LAC

LAC

37.9

ECA

MENA
SA

5.0

10.0

24.5

12.5

18.8
15.4
13.6
6.0

SA
All Regions

18.3

% of Firms with Female Owners

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

EAP

Source: Enterprise Survey.

Please note that in the
Enterprise Survey results for
SA include Pakistan

LAC

40.4
36.6

SSA

33.0

MENA

17.2

SA

17.1

All Regions

60.0
54.3

ECA

25.0

20.8

MENA

31.0

20.0

35.3

30.0

27.1

SSA

14.5

All Regions

15.0

EAP

EAP

SSA

DRIVEN

ACCESS TO FINANCE IS A KEY BARRIER FOR WOMEN-OWNED

SMES IN EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Globally, East Asia

Pacific has the highest
number of estimated
women-owned SMEs
IFC has estimated that
worldwide, there is a
$300 billion gap in
financing for formal,
women-owned small
businesses
The credit gap for very
small and small
women-owned
enterprises is the
highest in EAP at $63B

4Source: IFC Enterprise Finance Database, 2011; Women-Owned SMEs: A Business Opportunity for
Financial Institutions, 2014

IFCS GENDER BASELINE SURVEY OF PORTFOLIO

CLIENTS SHOWS LOW ACCESS TO FINANCE FOR WOMEN
Data from 34 IFC client banks in 25 countries covering 6 regions shows that about
16% of our client bank SME portfolios are loans to women-owned SMEs (with 51%+
women ownership)

Region

% of Women-Owned
SMEs in
IFC Client Bank Portfolios

IFC CREATES OPPORTUNITY

WOMEN:
A TRANSFORMATIVE FORCE

PARTNERING FOR IMPACT

Women are transforming
developing countries as
consumers, employers,
employees, and business leaders
IFCs gender focus takes many
forms, including helping hundreds
of financial institutions finance
women entrepreneurs (FIG)

Add content, change caption

In East Asia and the Pacific, our

client ECOM Coffee provides
world-class training to thousands
of small-scale women farmers in
its supply chain raising incomes
and improving lives
VIETNAM

FIG ADDRESSES THE GENDER EQUALITY GAP VIA ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1. IFC is partnering with global, regional and local financial institutions by providing
capital and risk sharing facilities:
Seeking to increase access to finance for women entrepreneurs by
leveraging IFCs extensive global network of financial institutions (FIs). This
way IFC helps the FIs to profitably expand their portfolios and b) helps women
entrepreneurs to access finance and strengthen their businesses.
2. IFC also offers advisory services to financial institutions to deepen their ability
to reach women-owned businesses through: strategic planning, market
positioning/segmentation, product repositioning and staff training.
3. IFC reaches out to women entrepreneurs with customized training in business
planning management, financial literacy and de-mystifying banks/credit
application processes. IFC also facilitates networking and mentoring sessions for
market expansion and business growth.
4. IFC is also targeting the value chains of local, regional and global corporates
(e.g. Coca-Cola 5by20 Program). Working with corporates that share our
development objective to strengthen and broaden access to finance, training and
markets for women business owners
5. IFC is creating partnerships (Goldman Sachs Foundation 10K women) with
partners and institutions that have overlapping interests
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FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR

BANKS
Factor*

Market Share
Growth

Higher CrossSell and

Loyalty
Strong Savings
Propensity

Provides source of market differentiation in competitive SME markets

Establishes reputation as an innovator
Entry and differentiation in specific sectors where concentration e.g. retail, mobile, youth
Creates strong community-based advocacy and enhances corporate social responsibility

Once main banker status achieved, higher cross-sell ratios (between 1 and 2 times)
Higher footings obtained per relationship and higher fee generation
Respond well to relationship management-based models and willing to pay for it
Demonstrate stronger retention rates in many clients

Female customers have a higher propensity to save both as business & personal customers
Deposits from female customers typically grow at higher rate and stay with the Bank longer
Net funding surplus as a segment

Positive Risk
Behavior

Linkage to
Family Wallet

Take the business relationship, high likelihood that will take majority of family wallet
High advocacy creates strong conversion rates for husband business and personal FS
Up to 85% of family financial decisions made by the women globally

* - Source: IFC Analysis

Description

Female customers have lower risk tolerance as both business and personal customers
Women-led businesses outperform those led by men, including start-ups
Stronger business plans can create higher acceptance rates and reduced processing costs
Default rates are either the same or better than male counterparts depending upon market

IFC - FIG VALUE PROPOSITION FOR THE FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Given the untapped business opportunity, IFC Banking on Woman program provides funding and
Advisory Services to FIs in order to deepen their ability to develop value propositions to meet the needs of
women-owned SMEs in a profitable and sustainable manner

1. Investment Services

Risk Sharing Facilities

Loans
Performance
Incentives * (linked to
stretch targets)

2. Advisory Services to FIs

3. Capacity Building to women

entrepreneurs

Strategy & analytics: Gender

diagnostic & Needs assessment,
Gender market research etc.

Business Planning

Product Management: product

support package template, Value
Proposition development, Campaign
Management etc.

Creation and Support of Networks

Financial Literacy

Mentoring Opportunities
Market Access

Branding & Market Positioning /

segmentation
Training: Gender awareness training
for Management, IFC Gender skills
training course for RMs etc.

SME business Toolkit for women

Events & seminars program
Online resources & networking

IFCS TRACK RECORD

IFC has global presence with investment and advisory projects for women
entrepreneurs ...

WHAT DOES A BANKING ON WOMEN PROGRAM LOOK LIKE? THE RCBC

EXAMPLE
Starting April 2013, IFC Advisory Services worked with Rizal
Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) under IFCs EAP Women in
Business program to improve access to finance and support the
growth of women-owned businesses in the Philippines
IFCs support included: strategic planning workshops with RCBC
management, market research on womens personal and business
financial needs, recommendations on the design of the customer
value proposition (CVP) for women-led businesses based on the
market research, and gender sensitivity trainings to RCBCs
Relationship Managers
Results:

RCBC established a Women's Champion Network made up

of Relationship Managers specifically trained to advise
women-owned SMEs on the banks products and services,
and to advocate on issues impacting women in their local
communities

As of December 31, 2014, disbursed 1,348 loans to womenowned small and medium enterprises totaling US$70 million

Program won the 2015 IFC CEO Gender Award

Next Steps: offering a range of non-financial services to

women-owned SMEs, including networking opportunities,
and business education and training programs

WHAT DOES A BANKING ON WOMEN PROGRAM LOOK LIKE? THE

INTERNASIONAL INDONESIA (BII) EXAMPLE

IFCs Investment: US $75 million to support BIIs growth in

financing women-owned SMEs and its expansion into frontier

regions.

IFC advisory services in market research, development of credit

product for women-owned SMEs and marketing plan.

BII launched its new credit product for women-owned SMEs on

Dec 22, 2011 that uses gold as collateral.

Loans to women entrepreneurs of up to US$100,000 disbursed

over $99.6m to 1096 women-owned SMEs in last 24 months.

Women One savings product (free insurance coverage for certain

illnesses, interest rate incentive, cash back when using debit card

with some merchants, no monthly admin fee). Mobilized > $60m in

deposits from women customers in 1st year of product launch.

QUESTIONS?

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