Financial Sector Development

Financing growth and development

The financial sector is at the heart of every free-market economy. An economy without a well-functioning financial sector will struggle to generate the rates of growth and investment needed to create jobs and reduce poverty. Banks and capital markets play a pivotal role collecting savings and re-distributing them for investment. Insurance is imperative for reallocating risks from the vulnerable to those that are better able to manage them. And pensions work to smooth incomes and consumption over a lifetime.

The failures of governance over the past five years have heightened awareness of the risks posed by poorly regulated financial markets. The creation of a strong and well-regulated financial sector is a demanding task, requiring the close involvement of both the public and the private sectors. Market participants, regulators and governments need to work together to promote the development of a healthy and vigorous financial sector. In many countries, there is a role for experienced experts to provide advice on planning and implementing programmes for reform.

Nathan EME has considerable skills and experience in financial sector development. Our work has covered such diverse subjects as how to measure access to finance, finance for SMEs, and capital markets regulation. In particular, we are the lead partner in the consortium managing the FIRST Initiative, a major multi-donor project tasked with strengthening and deepening the financial sectors of low and middle-income countries

We have undertaken financial sector projects for all the major donors agencies in all regions of the world. A selection of recent projects in this area can be found below. For any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Selected Projects

FIRST Initiative: A consortium led by Nathan EME was commissioned to run the Management Unit of the US$ 51 million Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening (FIRST) Initiative. The project, which is funded by the World Bank, IMF, DFID and other national development agencies, is tasked with strengthening and deepening the financial sectors of low and middle-income countries. More information on the FIRST Initiative can be found at www.firstinitiative.org

Financial Access Indicators: At the request of DFID, Nathan EME produced a comprehensive inventory of existing financial services access and usage data sources. Follow-up work looked at how an indicator framework to measure access could be constructed with available data.

Azerbaijan: Nathan EME designed the SME financing component of a World Bank project to provide credit and restructuring advice to enterprises going through privatisation and restructuring. This included assessing the feasibility of channelling credit for small and microenterprises through commercial banks and NGOs.

Jordan: As part of a DFID funded project, Nathan EME advised the Jordan Securities Commission, the Amman Stock Exchange and the Central Securities Depository on the modernisation and deepening of the Jordanian securities market.

Nigeria: Nathan EME is currently managing a US$ 32 million project aimed at increasing the growth of MSMEs in several states. A primary component of the project is increasing access to financial services for MSMEs in the target regions.

Pakistan: Nathan EME undertook this ADB project to) improve the efficiency of the capital market based on solid governance standards; advance stakeholders' understanding of the dynamics of corporate governance; and strengthen the capacity of the regulator to effectively discharge its duties.

Serbia: In support of the Serbian Ministry of Economy and Privatisation and the Privatisation Agency,  Nathan EME provided strategic advice on the development of the capital markets for a programme of privatisation-related Initial Public Offers (IPOs).