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
How does the WE Finance Code help mobilize all financial ecosystem partners to support women entrepreneurs?
In this video, Wendy Teleki, Head of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Secretariat explains a system of reinforcing incentives.
News and Events
5th Asia Finance Forum: Positioning for the Future
23-25 September 2025 | ADB Headquarters, Manila, Philippines
The 5th Asia Finance Forum, hosted by ADB in Manila, will explore how financial systems across the region can be designed to harness the benefits of innovation and competition to ensure inclusive and sustainable development. This conference aims to engage a broad range of stakeholders across ADB's developing member countries. The event will serve as a platform to explore new developments and emerging trends and challenges in financial technology, sustainable finance, and regulatory frameworks; foster knowledge sharing through real-life use cases; build a future-ready financial system by finding solutions that emphasize trust building and robust regulation; and strengthen cross-border collaboration. It will include sessions on financial inclusion and innovative solutions for MSMEs.
Check back here soon for the registration link. Learn more about this event here.
gWFX Publications Showcased During ADB Annual Meeting
During ADB's 58th Annual Meeting in Milan, Italy, the Private Sector Operations Department showcased all recent gWFX publications at a Private Sector Client's Day held on 6 May, which featured seven events.
The showcase included these publications:
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Leveraging Fintech for Women Entrepreneurs in Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam
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Women Business Owners Present Green Growth Potential in Pakistan
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Sustainable Finance Benefits from a Gender Lens
Read the publications here.
ADB Annual Meeting in Milan: Sharing Experience, Building Tomorrow
The 58th ADB Annual Meeting with the theme “Sharing Experience, Building Tomorrow” will be held from 4 to 7 May in Milan, Italy. The meeting is expected to attract several thousand participants from the government, private sector, development partners, civil society, academe, and media. Visit the Annual Meeting website for details.
ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department (PSOD) will host a number of events at the Annual Meeting. The event Banking on the Future: Digital Disruption and Partnerships Driving Financial Inclusion will be held on 6 May. This seminar will focus on how digital innovation and strategic partnerships are advancing financial inclusion, highlighting the role of fintech innovations. Cathy Marsh, PSOD Deputy Director General and Officer-in-Charge, will provide opening remarks, and closing remarks will be delivered by Private Sector Financial Institutions Division Director Asif Cheema. View the event page for more information.
5th Annual Forum on Expanding Women’s Participation in the Economy:The Women Entrepreneurs’ Finance Code in Asia and the Pacific 25–27 March 2025 | Tokyo, Japan
On 25-27 March, ADB, the ADB Institute, and the Islamic Development Bank hosted the 5th Annual Forum on Expanding Women’s Participation in the Economy, in Tokyo, Japan to bring together key stakeholders and share knowledge and experiences across countries to support the implementation of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WE Finance Code or the Code). Participants included senior representatives from central banks, financial regulators, and financial institutions. ADB is piloting the Code in Fiji, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, and it has recently been adopted in Pakistan through ADB’s Women’s Inclusive Finance Development Program and in Uzbekistan through the support of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.
Read our latest newsletter on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Through Innovative Technology Solutions
How can new technologies help women entrepreneurs access finance and grow their businesses? Technology innovations can support them through digital platforms that collect alternative data to enhance credit scoring and make financial services more accessible and affordable. In this issue of the gWFX Dispatch, we explore fintech solutions in Southeast Asia and share case studies from groundbreaking pilots in Nepal and Pakistan.
Read and subscribe here.
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).