AI Governance in SME Credit

As AI reshapes SME lending, regulators in emerging markets face growing challenges in supervising increasingly complex, opaque credit models. Limited data-science capacity constrains their ability to assess how decisions are made, while evolving “agentic” systems blur accountability across banks, technology providers, and data sources.
At the same time, high compliance costs risk concentrating market power in large institutions. This roundtable explores practical approaches to AI governance that balance innovation and inclusion—focusing on explainability, proportional regulation, and frameworks that ensure responsible use of AI without limiting access to SME finance.