Isidro Fainé, President of the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) today chaired an event in Marrakech with the aim of promoting the reduction of the economic gap affecting women entrepreneurs globally

WSBI signs a new partnership with We-Fi, the World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative to promote women's entrepreneurship, with a special focus on women living in developing countries

The World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI), which includes CECA among its main member entities, organised its General Assembly and the annual meeting of the African Regional Group in Marrakech from 11 to 13 October, with the collaboration of its Moroccan partner Al Barid Bank, and within the framework of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Isidro Fainé, President of WSBI and Chairman of CECA and Fundación "la Caixa", and Antonio Romero, Corporate Director of Association Services and Resources at CECA and Chairman of the WSBI-ESBG Coordination Committee, were joined by financial sector entities from all over the world at a new event of the WSBI Scale2Save initiative.

The conference "WSBI as a catalyst for unlocking the potential of female entrepreneurs" featured a keynote speech by Wendy Teleki, Head of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Secretariat, at the World Bank, and contributions from WSBI member entities: AGFUND, Banco Estado, LAPO Microfinance Bank and Swedfund.

The speakers analysed four key areas for fostering female entrepreneurship: empowerment, bridging the digital divide, developing innovative solutions that are gender-sensitive and adapted to climate change, and ensuring the investment readiness of FSPs.

In line with this commitment, WSBI has signed a new partnership with We-Fi, the World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, with the goal of promoting women's entrepreneurship, with a special focus on women living in developing countries. The partnership agreement has been signed for a five-year period (2026-2030).

This agreement is an opportunity for leaders in the financial sector, including banks, funds, fintechs, regulators and investors, among others, to address women's entrepreneurship, which is key to economic growth, social development and job creation, and to promote the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs internationally and reduce the financial inequality faced by 400 million women entrepreneurs.

WSBI, an international commitment to female entrepreneurship  

WSBI, founded in 1924, is the world's oldest banking association, representing more than 6,400 savings and retail banks from around the globe. One of the strategic objectives of WSBI is to build inclusive and sustainable financial sectors.

Along these lines, the World Institute created the Scale2Save initiative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, with the aim of involving different stakeholders in the financial sector to assess, design and implement projects that help generate resilience and sustainable solutions for the most vulnerable groups. Understanding the impact that the financial sector has on the provision of services to women entrepreneurs, the actions that lead to greater gender equity and agreeing common metrics that serve these objectives is part of these efforts. The initiative has already succeeded in developing projects in places such as Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

WSBI's commitment to promoting women's economic empowerment goes well beyond Scale2Save. Thus, WSBI has today entered into a new partnership with We-Fi, the World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, which aims to promote women's entrepreneurship, with a special focus on women living in developing countries, by improving their access to finance, markets, technology and networks.

WSBI joins the launch of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code, an innovative initiative designed to revolutionise the way women-led SMEs are perceived, supported and financed globally.