What Digital Lenders Have Done Differently

This session will open with the launch of our first-of-its-kind research on digital SME lenders across the world, highlighting how a new generation of institutions is reshaping access to finance across emerging markets. By leveraging alternative data—from e-commerce activity to utility payments—digital lenders have developed credit models, enhancing customer experience while reducing processing costs and making small-ticket lending commercially viable at scale.

The discussion will then explore what this experience has proven, why replication of the tested models is important and what lessons can be learnt from the successful digital SME lenders. Bringing together practitioners and policymakers, the session will also examine where policy is the binding constraint, what can be learned from tiered regulatory approaches, and how enabling frameworks can support the responsible scaling of digital SME lending.