The coronavirus pandemic is the largest public health crisis in living memory, which has also led to an unprecedented economic crisis on a global scale. Although the impacts of the pandemic affect both larger and smaller firms, the effect on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is especially severe, particularly because of the higher levels of vulnerability and lower resilience related to the size of these firms.

Access to financing is one of the most critical environmental conditions for SMEs as well as for entrepreneurs, which was heavily impacted by Covid-19; SMEs experience many difficulties in obtaining funding for new investment projects, particularly in their early stages. Moreover, with increased competition and technological advances, SMEs have a greater appetite for better service and provision of products tailored to their needs, and banks need to keep up.

In this conference, we are going to cover all these aspects with many case studies and first-hand answers, as well as best practices.

We will be focusing on a broad range of topics such as:

Best-practice in SME lending during the financial crisis

• The importance of customer relationship management in a period of economic disruption
• Digital innovations: the backbone of modern-day banking
• Open Banking as an SME banking growth lever – How to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving industry
• Green finance: the prospects of sustainable financing for SMEs
• The age of FinTech: overcoming obstacles to a symbiotic relationship
• The impact of Covid-19 on SME access to financing and the role of public support programmes
• Credit risk management in SME financing
• SME ecosystems: going beyond financing
• AI and its use in SME banking