The Global SME Banking Innovation Awards, is the first of its kind assessment program designed to honour and celebrate the world’s preeminent SME banking players.

The Global SME Banking Innovation Awards are designed with a view to recognizing the institutional excellence and business achievements of the most pioneering and trail-blazing SME banking players operating in the industry today, while establishing objective global benchmarks for outstanding performance and innovation. SME Banks must demonstrate capabilities and competencies, which are unmatched and transformative in nature, redefining customer engagement models with SMEs and providing cutting-edge product portfolio and solution sets to empower SME growth.

WHY NOMINATE?

SME banking has undergone significant digital transformation in recent years being shaped by evolving client expectations centred on usage and trust, while a challenging operating environment marked with continued inflation, higher interest rates and a cautious outlook impacts SME businesses. Lenders have proactively refined their offerings given the increased digital adoption by SMEs emphasizing the importance of efficient and convenient digital-first solutions.

Notably, SME businesses value smoother onboarding processes, streamlined loan disbursement and greater transaction efficiency as lenders develop integrated platforms to orchestrate successful client journeys and mitigate existing funding gaps. Certainly, SME banks are rethinking their business models by developing customer-centric digital-first solutions that go beyond addressing SME needs to providing clients with the requisite tools for powering their growth aspirations.

Importantly, while innovation in lending practices will remain the central pivot in facilitating access to finance, these solutions must be augmented by provision of ancillary services to consolidate total banking relationships with SME clients on an end-to-end basis. Hence, it has become vital for SME lenders to modernize their infrastructure and technology stacks to support clients through a comprehensive and inclusive ecosystem balanced with tailored products and personalized customer engagement.

Fundamentally, introducing such game-changing initiatives are integral for SME banks in maintaining their innovation leadership and long-term competitiveness in a fast-changing business landscape.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The Global SME Banking Innovation Awards program is open to all relevant players within the SME financial services landscape including conventional banks, digital/neo-banks/challenger banks, fintech companies, microfinance institutions and technology solution providers.

 

JUDGING METHODOLOGY

Shortlisted nominees are selected on the qualitative and quantitative depth of their nominations.

The Digital Banker research team will shortlist four institutions or individuals per category, which will then be put to our impartial panel of expert judges who will undertake a rigorous audit type process to carefully select the winners.

We use a proprietary, numerical & qualitative scoring methodology which is applied to all submissions and augmented by assessment in: Product and Service Innovation, Superior SME Client Experience, Financial & Market Performance and Corporate Strategy with a focus on the Digital Ecosystem the bank has built to date.

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Only projects that have been completed in 2025 will be accepted. Initiation of the project can be earlier – The Digital Banker does not require a specific commencement date. If a project was completed prior to 2025, the project will be accepted only if any updates have been made to it.

We do not place a limit on the number of submissions per institution. Please note that a separate submission is required for each award that the institution is nominating itself for. Multiple submissions by a single institution for a single category will compete with each other. Please ensure to select the corresponding category and award title in the submission form to view the respective questionnaire.

For further information, please contact The Digital Banker Awards Team at enq@digitalbankeronline.com.

 

REMINDERS

• Entries received after the closing date will not be accepted any under circumstances.

We may request a further interview with the executive managing the program or initiative that is being nominated. The objective of the interview is merely to gain deeper insights, (if needed) for the purposes of judging.