A loan at your bank is being declined - because you're a woman

In a world striving for economic balance, women remain underbanked, underinsured and underserved. By 2030, 121 women will live in poverty for 100 men. In turn, gender parity in business could amplify profitability and productivity across economies by roughly 40%.

These are impressive numbers, yet difficult to draw conclusion from. According to the United Nations, part of the inequity is driven by how we lived through COVID. In everyday life, however, the challenges of financial inclusivity are rather omnipresent and simple:

• Imagine you get financed through a loan your husband receives from the bank, as it turns out to be easier to obtain.
• Picture yourself in a situation where a male relative needs to co-sign your loan as you may not or do not own property.

Clearly, women represent the greatest challenge and the promise of financial inclusivity. In fact, women-led SME enterprises fuel the backbone of economic stability and growth and often demonstrate rather strong performance for banks. Yet female entrepreneurship lags behind: 22% of micro-enterprises and 32% of small and medium enterprises are owned by a woman globally. In Europe the proportion of female to male entrepreneurs is as low as 15.5%. With that, Europe is far behind the United States in female-led startups.

• This imbalance goes hand in hand with women’s self-reported preference for self-funding, or “bootstrapping”, and so their businesses would appear to contribute to a smaller demand for external financing at the outset.
• Moreover, women are underrepresented in decision-making roles at venture capital firms. This matters as investment firms with women partners are over twice as likely to invest in women-led enterprises.

To this very day, women represent the challenge and the promise of financial inclusivity. In the pursuit of economic prosperity, it is imperative that the world invests in the untapped potential of women entrepreneurs. Their success is not just their own, but ours, as the development of micro-enterprises - including those led by women - turn into a high priority for many governments around the world in light of 600 million jobs that will be needed by 2030 to absorb the growing global workforce.

What are concrete ways to express support for women? AXA is delivering targeted services at female entrepreneurs. This applies to emerging but also developed markets. In countries like Switzerland, AXA specifically cooperates with partners to increase the share of female founders and contribute to the startup ecosystem. Time to progress!

Supporting female entrepreneurs | AXA

The finance gap for women entrepreneurs is $1.7 trillion. Here's how to close it | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

Mirjam Bamberger is member of the Management Committee of AXA's European Markets & Health. Prior to this she has been she has been CEO of AXA Luxembourg and CEO of AXA Wealth Europe and served in various roles as a board member of AXA Switzerland. Mirjam spent over 20 years living and working in the US and UK, China, Latin America and Europe, holds an honors degree of the executive MBA of IMD Lausanne and a master’s degree of University of Cologne. She is a certified director of the Swiss Board School.