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Add to Preferred Sources📅 16 – 18 September 2024
Sao Paulo, Brazil
The central theme of the 2024 conference is how the disruptive emergence of AI tools and technologies will shape and accelerate the twin digital-sustainable transitions toward scaling SME Finance.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, regulators and financiers have seen that a successful shift towards digitalization and sustainability within the SME sector is crucial for enabling SMEs to access finance, achieving the UN SDG, and securing our global future. These trends powered by AI offer a unique combination of enabling factors that can augment SME finance, however, there needs to be concerted and coordinated effort involved for all relevant stakeholders. This conference will examine the interdependence between these transitions and solutions in SME finance and their potential to reinforce each other.
A special focus will be placed on the application of AI in SME finance as a key technological development reshaping the industry. The growth of AI as a practical tool is suggesting new paths toward sustainability, as well as novel challenges to financial inclusion. The conference sessions will delve into both the opportunities and threats presented by the coming wave of disruptive AI. However, we would not limit the focus to AI, digital, and sustainability issues but also discuss broader elements making it a holistic SME finance conference.
Owing to the G20 Presidency, we are scheduled to hold the conference in São Paulo, Brazil, which is also the financial center of the country. Brazil, with a population of 215.3 million, provides the ideal venue for this meeting, due to its status as a hub for industry frontrunners such as Nubank, one of the world’s largest digital financial services platforms serving 94 million customers, and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), a global leader in clean energy financing, among others.
Brazil has a lively ecosystem of digital banks and FinTechs including C6, Neon, Banco Inter, Agibank, Banco Original, PicPay, and Stone. Moreover, the Central Bank of Brazil’s electronic payment scheme Pix, launched in November 2020, has successfully reduced reliance on cash, increased financial inclusion, and allowed for tracking payments and economic activity by geographical region, user characteristics, and transaction types.
In addition, the SME Finance Forum, being a G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion’s strategic partner, supports the Brazilian government’s efforts in developing the SME Finance Action Plan.