MAKING
CONNECTIONS
DELIVERING
RESULTS
A Community Fostering
Inclusive and Green Finance
Who We Are
We empower women-owned and led businesses in Asia and the Pacific by assisting financial institutions in providing gender-responsive and sustainable finance through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies.
Here, you will find a diverse range of knowledge products and learning events, including:
Check this site for updated resources.
This is a members-only portal that offers exclusive insights into industry knowledge. By becoming a member, you can:​
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Access tailored knowledge events and materials on climate and gender related topics
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Download tools and toolkits related to sustainable finance
Embrace the power of knowledge, and let our portal keep you updated!
Spotlight
There is a great unmet need for financing for women-owned businesses in Asia and the Pacific that stands at billions of dollars.
ADB’s Keiko Nowacka explains how the Women's Finance Exchange (gWFX) partners with financial institutions in the region to ensure that more capital and resources flow directly to women-owned businesses, including those in the green sector.
News and Events
Joanna Romero, Lead Gender Finance Expert at gWFX, was featured in the FinEquity December 2024 Newsletter Member Spotlight. Read the interview to learn more about her work here.
Read our latest newsletter on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in the Pacific
Women’s economic empowerment in the Pacific is an important priority for ADB. In this issue of the gWFX Dispatch, we shine a spotlight on initiatives to increase women’s access to finance in the region, featuring insights from Veilawa Rereiwasaliwa, CEO of Merchant Finance Pte Limited Fiji and Marla Munkh-Achit, Social Development Specialist (Gender and Development) at ADB.
Read and subscribe here.
ADB, Merchant Finance Pte Limited partner to support SMEs in Fiji
On 6 December, ADB signed an agreement with Merchant Finance Pte Limited (MFL) to support inclusive access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Fiji at ADB headquarters in Manila. ADB’s $4 million loan in local currency will be used to support SMEs in Fiji, with 75% of proceeds earmarked for women-owned SMEs. This is ADB’s first private sector transaction in the finance sector in Fiji. This transaction was supported by the Women Entrepreneurs’ Finance Initiative (We-Fi) through the WAVES program in the Pacific.  Read the news release.
Sex-disaggregated Data for Financial Institutions
How can sex-disaggregated data help financial institutions support women entrepreneurs? Joanna Romero, Lead Gender Finance Expert at Women’s Finance Exchange, explains why it is critical and how the WE Finance Code initiative is encouraging the use of data to empower women-owned businesses.
Financial institutions are recognizing their important role in a just green transition.
Women’s Finance Exchange Lead Sabine Spohn discusses the enthusiasm for this topic demonstrated at a gWFX UNEP FI seminar held recently in Manila.​
Technology
We support FIs in the identification and selection of cutting-edge technologies to facilitate gender-responsive and sustainable financing.
What We Do
Capacity
Building
We provide tailored knowledge solutions to enhance our partners' capacity in delivering inclusive financial services.
Funding
Opportunity
We explore funding and co-financing opportunities to support FIs in boosting lending to women and women's businesses.
Sustainable
Finance
We encourage and assist the implementation of sustainable finance in our partner FI's strategy, operation, products and services.
Partners
The CAREC Women’s Empowerment Online Platform (WEOP) is our knowledge partner. It is a comprehensive and user-friendly digital space that aims to empower women across the region by providing capacity development resources, opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing, and collaboration with stakeholders.
The CAREC member countries are Azerbaijan, People’s Republic of China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
To promote finance sector development, the Financial Sector Development Partnership Fund (FSDPF) was established in July 2006 through contributions from the Government of Luxembourg. Given growing demand from the Asian Development Bank’s developing member countries for financing support, the Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund (FSDPSF) was created in January 2013. The FSDPSF focuses on the key operational areas of finance sector development, inclusive finance, and infrastructure finance. Since the fund was established, the FSDPSF has allocated a total of $25.5 million for 76 projects, some of which are capacity building initiatives of gWFX.
The High-Level Technology (HLT) Fund is a multi-donor trust fund established in 2017. It provides grant financing to promote the integration of HLT and innovative solutions into ADB-financed and administered sovereign and nonsovereign projects throughout the project cycle—from identification to implementation and operation. The fund encourages more widespread adoption of HLT to address development challenges in ADB's developing member countries.
Mastercard works to connect and power an inclusive digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, their innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential.
Visa is a world-leading digital payments network that removes barriers and connects people to the global economy. Visa aims to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.
The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) is our co-financing partner. We-Fi is a collaborative partnership among 14 governments, eight multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other public and private sector stakeholders, hosted by the World Bank Group.
Need more details?
We are here to assist you. Contact us by email at womenfinx@adb.org or through the contact form.
We are open from 8:00AM - 5:00PM Philippine Standard Time (UTC +8).