13 APAC mobile wallet and digital bank leaders sign up for new MSME initiative to accelerate inclusion and sustainability efforts
Programme Sirus (Sustainability Innovation for Regenerative & Inclusive Purpose), supported by 13 Asia-Pacific fintech leaders at its inaugural launch, was unveiled today to empower Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in their transition towards sustainability, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Programme Sirius is an industry-led knowledge initiative that aims to support MSMEs operating on digital platforms in their journey towards sustainability. It will foster open industry dialogues where like-minded industry partners can exchange ideas on sustainability innovations and share best practices to support MSMEs on their sustainability journey, helping their transition into a low-carbon economy, advancing their accessibility to sustainability financing, and uplifting MSMEs with new growth opportunities.
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will collaborate with Ant International to develop and promote a set of Digital Sustainability Impact Management Toolkits in the next two years. These toolkits aim to empower MSMEs to adopt environmentally and socially friendly practices to improve MSMEs’ access to sustainable finance through digitalization while driving the entire economy towards a low-carbon development path.
At the launch, 13 industry partners from 11 economies have committed to be part of Programme Sirius: AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), ANEXT Bank (Singapore), Bigpay (Malaysia), bKash (Bangladesh), DANA (Indonesia), GCash (the Philippines), Hipay (Mongolia), Kakao Pay (Republic of Korea), MPay (Macao SAR, China), TNG Digital (Malaysia), TossPay (Republic of Korea), TrueMoney (Thailand) and Zalopay (Vietnam).
With multinational companies aiming to curtail their carbon footprint and extending these expectations to their suppliers, local merchants could gain competitive edge by embracing sustainability. To facilitate MSMEs, including those operating in digital channels, to transition towards sustainability, there is a great urgency to call for industry collaborative efforts and innovations to help in addressing these key areas of
APAC partners at the launch of Programme Sirius challenges.
“We always talk about financial and digital inclusion, but sustainability inclusion for MSMEs is becoming one of the most pressing challenges,” said Leiming Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer, Ant International. “As these merchants play an increasingly important role in the global and local economies, there is a need to provide them with the right mindset, knowledge, and resources to take climate action.
Given the complexities of the task, ranging from taxonomy and governance framework to cost and education, it requires collective effort across public and private sectors, industries, and markets to drive this change. With our experience in innovation-led sustainability and MSME programs, Ant International is proud to join partners like the Gprnt and IFC, and other industry partners of the Programme Sirius like GCash to unlock opportunities for MSMEs as they transform to become more sustainable.”
“MSMEs are the backbone of any growing economy. With this, GCash has become their bridge to digital by providing essential tools – transforming the way they do business. We remain committed to helping Filipino MSMEs achieve progress through democratized financial services, especially with easy access to credit,” commented Martha Sazon, President and Chief Executive Officer of GCash.