The share of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (WSMEs) in Alliance members’ SME portfolios, and their share of credit and deposit volumes, have been growing at an accelerated pace compared to other segments.
These new findings, detailed in the Measuring the Value of the Female Economy 2023 report, are based on an analysis of thousands of datapoints from 51 Alliance members in 2023. This marks 10 years since the Alliance began collecting women’s market data in 2013.
During that decade, women’s representation as customers doubled from 20% to 40%, demonstrating the success of Alliance members’ Women’s Markets Programs. Even as members have expanded reach and deepened usage among women customers, they continue to report that women have lower average rates of non-performing loans compared to men and higher average Net Promoter Scores.
The Measuring the Value of the Female Economy 2023 report dives deep into the findings and provides insights about how Alliance members are winning with women’s markets. Among the insights, here are six key takeaways:
- Alliance members offer distinct value propositions for women across segments, especially women SMEs, and most (73%) offer tailored propositions for women SMEs.
- WSMEs’ share of loans and deposits has shown strong year-on-year growth. They now account for 22% of total SME loan volume and 21% of total SME deposit volume.
- Women’s deposit sizes are nearing parity with men, climbing to 93% of men’s average deposit sizes.
- Women are active users of digital financial services, representing 47% of online banking users and 42% of app users.
- Members continue to benefit from their focus on women customers, who maintain (on average) lower non-performing loans, higher NPS scores, and comparable product numbers per customer relative to men—with higher average products per customer than men in the Micro and SME segments.
- Internally, Alliance members are driving gender equity, with women’s representation at senior levels reaching a five-year high.
This new report demonstrates the power of collecting women’s market data. During the past decade, the number of Alliance members providing such data has grown five-fold, reflecting both the expansion of the network and members’ data capabilities. For insights on how members have improved and leveraged their collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data, a new InBrief resource has been published: The Power of Women’s Markets Data: A How-To Guide.
Both new reports can help you discover how your institution can develop successful women-centered strategies and accelerate the path to equity.
