Alliance members are launching new women-centered programs, supporting women on navigating long-term investments, tailoring financial packages to professions with a high representation of women, and even being honored by Queen Elizabeth.
Lafise: Banco Lafise in Honduras is launching two new programs for women: Women’s Assistance and SME Assistance. Both include customized financial and non-financial services to support women achieve their goals and were developed in partnership with the IFC. In preparation for the launch, Lafise trained bank staff with a program called “Winning the Women’s SME Market” to ensure they’d know how to deliver the new value proposition to female entrepreneurs.
LXME: Wealthtech startup LXME has been featured in the Official Platinum Jubilee Pageant Commemorative Album released in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne this June. LXME is the only Indian company featured among the selection of outstanding individuals and organizations from across the UK Commonwealth. The team is now fully women-led, with two new women stepping into the CEO and COO roles alongside co-founder Priti Gupta.
Westpac: Westpac launched a “Women in Home Ownership” webinar series, which went live three days after the Reserve Bank of Australia increased the cash rate for the first time in more than 10 years. The first session focused on risk analysis and costs to factor in when buying versus renting. The second one focused on what to expect in the buying process, financing and bidding tips, and managing mortgage payments. Each session featured women experts, including Westpac’s Business Bank Chief Economist and Home Finance Manager, as well as buyer advocates and data researchers from outside the company. Westpac also held a session on the “101 Of Investing” in their popular “Lunch and Learn” series. Over 800 women registered for the 30-minute session, which featured leading women in the Australian investment space.
Beyond its financial education efforts, Westpac is also tailoring financial packages for professions primarily by women. For example, the bank is improving access to finance for childcare center operators by offering more flexible lending criteria and reduced equity requirements alongside competitive lending rates and establishment fees. The bank also has a dedicated team of business bankers supporting childcare businesses looking to expand. They’ve also updated the criteria for its Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI) Waiver to include eight healthcare professions. Eligible customers can access a Loan-to-Value Ratio (LVR) of up to 90 percent without the additional cost of LMI.
Finally, to increase the representation of women in its own lending workforce, Westpac is offering a development program to help women transition to home and business lending roles. The bank will offer up to 100 of these roles to employees and external applicants.
