The Rise of Digital SME Lenders: What It Takes to Scale

Digital lenders are no longer operating at the edges of SME finance. They are becoming part of the wider ecosystems where small businesses already trade, transact and grow. Super apps, digital banks, embedded finance providers and alternative lenders are each building SME lending into the platforms and networks that businesses rely on every day. But scaling sustainably depends on more than any one institution’s model. It requires the right connections across the ecosystem: access to data and partnerships, stable funding, sound risk frameworks, and regulation that supports responsible growth.

This session brings together leaders from across the digital lending ecosystem to examine how these pieces fit together. Speakers will discuss how platforms, banks and fintechs can collaborate rather than compete, how ecosystem data can be used to reach underserved businesses, and where gaps in funding, infrastructure and policy still hold back scale. Drawing on their own experience of growing across markets, they will share what has worked, what hasn’t, and what the broader ecosystem needs to do to turn digital lending into a lasting source of finance, growth and jobs for SMEs.