The world has woken up to challenges such as climate change, widening inequality, and accelerating technological disruption. Society today expects banks to play a more inclusive role in the economy. Banks are expected to enable sustainable and inclusive growth to drive real change across economies and communities.

Evolving from task to transformation

Historically, banks followed a transactional model, where profitability was the primary compass, and capital naturally gravitated towards models offering the safest and quickest returns. Often, the model was found to be wanting in terms of serving the segments that needed credit the most. Built on volumes, margins, and efficiency, this model is reaching its saturation, and there is widespread opinion that a different model — one that enables sustainable and inclusive growth is needed.

Traditional credit frameworks, anchored in historical cash flows and collateral, tend to exclude small entrepreneurs, farmers, women-led enterprises, and startups that drive innovation and local employment. Apart from disallowing the bridging of the gap in society between income levels, it also stifles innovation and ingenuity. Banks need to move beyond their traditional roles as passive intermediaries and focus on funding segments with potential but that need more financial support.

Secondly, banks have to reimagine how they define and manage risk. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations must move to the core of risk assessment from the current periphery. Climate resilience, social inclusion, and ethical governance are not “soft” factors — they are material to long-term value creation. Integrating ESG analytics, stress-testing for climate risk, and evaluating the social impact of lending can help banks build portfolios that are both resilient and forward-looking.

Also, banks must rethink their products and business models to serve a broader developmental agenda. For instance, about $2,570 million has been committed by various banks and financial institutions to renewable energy projects. More such initiatives, especially through innovative structures, including blended finance, outcome-linked loans, and green bonds, can redirect private capital into projects that yield social and environmental dividends. Likewise, digital credit and alternative data analytics can open access for micro- and nano-enterprises that remain invisible to traditional banking systems.

Finally, banks must reinvest in relationships with communities, local ecosystems, and partners across the financial and development landscape. Beyond delivering financial services, branch networks, local correspondents, and technology platforms can empower communities when utilised strategically. By working with government agencies, fintech firms, cooperatives, and impact investors, banks can help co-create local solutions—from climate adaptation in rural areas to skill development and entrepreneurship financing in urban clusters.

The shift to a more inclusive model of banking also makes strategic and financial sense. Climate and social vulnerabilities are now financial risks — ignoring them exposes banks to asset write-downs, credit losses, and regulatory penalties. Likewise, since trust is a key aspect in financial transactions, purpose-driven banking can spawn brand loyalty and create a loyal customer base. It can also unlock access to new markets and give rise to diversified revenue streams. Regulators and investors are already rewarding those institutions that prioritise governance and sustainability.

By deploying capital with conscience and vision, banks can drive economic resilience, social mobility, and environmental stewardship — creating value that endures beyond quarterly earnings. Banks have been trusted partners to societies, communities and economies when it comes to safeguarding wealth and deploying collective capital. Now, more than ever, banks have to adopt a transformative role that keeps them at the centre of societal change. They need to utilise their expertise in managing collective capital to deploy it for a wide-reaching and positive impact. When banks embrace this transformative role, they not only strengthen their own foundations but also lay the groundwork for a more equitable and resilient economy.

The post Reviving the true mission of banks appeared first on International Finance.

As industries are embracing AI and technology rapidly, so are the worries around cybersecurity. Enterprises prioritise protective measures against online attacks and hacks, prompting businesses to spend more on safeguarding their domains.

Against this backdrop, Chainguard, whose customers include Anduril, ANZ Bank, Canva, GitLab and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has stood up to the occasion by providing tools and services to help clients keep their software secure. At the same time, it is also cementing its place as a key cybersecurity player, as it has so far raised USD 612 million. The start-up, founded in 2021, grew its annual recurring revenue seven times to USD 40 million in fiscal year 2025.

In today’s episode of the “Start-up of the Week,” International Finance will talk about the company in detail.

The Safe Source For Open Source

Chainguard has built a secure, trusted software supply chain that “empowers teams to build the future instead of patching the past.”

“The status quo in open source has led to high-profile security breaches, countless hours of engineering toil, and compliance failures. Enterprises need a new mechanism for open-source software delivery,” the start-up stated.

The safe open-source software has been rebuilt from source in secure environments with end-to-end integrity, with the vision of ensuring a future where security and innovation move in lockstep and every line of code makes software safer.

“As high-profile attacks exposed systemic weaknesses, organisations struggled to secure their development pipelines without adding friction for engineers. Existing solutions were complex, reactive, and often ineffective, so Chainguard set out to build a safe source for open source. Today, Chainguard helps organisations eliminate threats in their software supply chains by providing guarded open-source software, built from source and updated continuously,” the company added.

Chainguard’s software supply chain has enabled its client companies to save 288,000 engineering hours. Additionally, it has addressed more than 72,000 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs)—a widely recognized list of publicly disclosed security flaws in computer systems. Most importantly, this effort has resulted in an 80% reduction in the attack surface.

Chainguard’s software supply chain is run by “Container Image Security,” which builds, ships, and runs hardened, minimal container images.

The company commented, “Our suite of hardened, minimal container images help developers start secure and stay secure throughout the software development lifecycle. With 97.6% fewer vulnerabilities than alternatives, Chainguard Containers help you reach vulnerability requirements for compliance frameworks like NIST 800-53, FedRAMP, or StateRAMP.”

The software supply chain performs another crucial function called “Vulnerability Remediation,” where it prioritises speed and precision to eliminate CVEs daily in the open-source software the client companies consume, so the latter’s developers can spend their time honing their craft. No more constantly monitoring security spreadsheets, running known-vulnerable software, or manually patching images.

When it comes to compliance and risk mitigation, the Chainguard Containers solution eliminates vulnerabilities in the clients’ containers that repeatedly impact their compliance certifications for FedRAMP, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and more. Human cybersecurity professionals get relieved of repetitive tasks like patching, updating, and hardening container images to meet and maintain compliance requirements faster.

The start-up also helps its clients build secure software with images that include Signatures, SLSA Provenance (verifiable information about software artefacts describing where, when and how something was produced), and SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials is a comprehensive inventory of all the software components, including their versions, dependencies, and associated metadata, that make up a software application), thereby providing the building blocks for a secure software supply chain.

On the AI/ML Security front, Chainguard AI Images are a suite of CPU and GPU-enabled container images, including popular frameworks like PyTorch, Conda, and Kafka. These images are hardened, minimal, and optimised for efficient AI development and deployment. By leveraging Chainguard AI Images, organisations can confidently secure their AI infrastructure, streamline vulnerability management, and maintain high performance with low-to-zero vulnerabilities.

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) requirements for vulnerability management drive add significant worry and complexity for companies investing in their digital architectures, especially when it comes to the data authentication task.

Chainguard simplifies PCI compliance with minimal, zero-CVE containers built entirely from source. The start-up offers minimal, zero-CVE images by default, shrinking its clients’ compliance and auditing worries from day one.

Chainguard helps its clients eliminate PCI DSS overhead and costs with source build pipelines, supply chain transparency, and CVE management. The start-up mitigates the risk of costly security breaches and failed audits, which incite heavy fines and penalties from regulators.

Here Is The Product Line-up

Among Chainguard’s key products is “Chainguard Containers,” which helps companies build software better with minimal, zero-CVE container images guarded under the start-up’s industry-leading remediation SLA (Service-Level Agreement).

The solution enables companies to adopt inherently secure software, allowing engineers to focus more on delivering products and less on patching Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Additionally, it leverages trusted open-source solutions to enhance security and minimize the attack surface for potential threats. Addressing critical compliance controls by default helps reduce overhead costs and accelerates the time to market for products.

Next is “Chainguard Libraries,” which stop software supply chain attacks without compromising developer experience and productivity with language dependencies built securely in SLSA-hardened build infrastructure.

Using the tool, companies can eliminate risks from compromised build systems and hijacked package distribution mechanisms to prevent attacks like XZ-Utils, MavenGate, and Lottie Player. Chainguard Libraries free up developers to ship faster by eliminating toil and productivity erosion associated with manual and/or policy-based package curation, apart from offloading the hard work of vendors in shared system libraries for dynamically linked languages.

These language libraries get built from source in Chainguard’s SLSA Level 2 build infrastructure, eliminating supply chain attacks at the build and distribution phases of the package lifecycle. Businesses can use the start-up’s language libraries anywhere to develop and deploy the code.

Chainguard helps IT companies standardise their developers on a safe and secure mechanism to consume language dependencies. Chainguard Libraries natively integrate with common artefact managers so developers can pull trusted dependencies without any additional friction.

Finally, we have Chainguard’s “Virtual Machine Software,” which hosts image containers on optimised, minimal, zero-CVE virtual machine images rebuilt from source daily for ephemeral cloud instances. The start-up described this particular solution as the security and innovation-friendly container host that meets “critical compliance controls by default with zero-CVE container hosts guarded under a CVE remediation SLA.”

The “Virtual Machine Software” also focuses on differentiated product experiences, in addition to reducing the burden on engineering and security teams for CVE triage, management, and remediation, while carrying out innovations on the security and performance optimisation front without costly and complex major upgrades.

Image Credits: Chainguard

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Contrary to common misconceptions, one does not require extraordinary intellect to embark on this journey; rather, an average acumen coupled with an indomitable spirit suffice. Essential to this venture is not just predefined traits but a willingness to cultivate and master them along the way, propelled by an unwavering commitment to learning and hard work. Through these principles, the landscape of entrepreneurship transforms from daunting to conquerable, empowering aspiring business owners to forge their paths with resilience and determination.

Asking Many Enquiries

Small business owners must continually enquire. Starting a business and improving it needs asking questions. They never stop asking questions—one leads to 10.

Don’t let the questions overwhelm you. Asking several questions is the only approach to developing your business. You should never be happy.

Fearless Of Mistakes

Nobody knowingly commits mistakes or wants to. As a business owner, you’ll make many mistakes.

Many people avoid starting enterprises because they fear failure. They dislike mistakes because they mean they were wrong.

It’s OK to make business blunders. I recommend making mistakes to succeed. You just need to be right more than wrong to establish a business.

Being Average Intellectually

It’s not necessary to be knowledgeable, educated, or trained to own a small business. The average is fine.

There are many clever people, but they usually work for others. Business owners are frequently “C’s get degrees club” graduates, according to studies. They were average! Don’t allow ordinary grades to stop you from starting a business.

Yes, brilliant people can create businesses. More commonly, normal individuals innovate and start businesses.

Key Personality Qualities

Entrepreneurs need certain personality attributes. You’ve heard entrepreneurs have grit, confidence, passion, dedication, and courage.

Character traits like this help you succeed. Do you need them all before starting a business? You don’t. You can learn many things as you go. Mastering more increases your success.

Willingness To Learn And Work Hard

Entrepreneurs and business entrepreneurs say it’s hard to be them. Is it hard? Yes, but very feasible. They studied payroll and accounting essentials while building their companies. You can develop a business like they did.

Start with a few talents; you can learn more over time. For instance, you can learn to take risks as your firm expands.

If you lack self-confidence, working on your business every day will boost it. A list of prerequisites to start a business does not exist. Be willing to work hard and learn. Learn the rest as you go.

The post Five must-have qualities to become successful entrepreneurs appeared first on International Finance.

Accenture’s 2022 global survey analysis has predicted that embedded finance offerings to businesses could potentially increase global bank revenues by up to $92 billion by 2025. This presents banks with an opportunity to serve customers where they are purchasing goods and services, instead of having to acquire them in the first place. Providing a profitable shortcut to a paying customer. A Bain & Company report believes that by 2026, the value of embedded finance will exceed $7 trillion – in the US alone.

As this market continues to grow, success will depend on accurate risk assessment and brand strategy, diverse integration approaches, and strategically choosing areas of involvement.

What is embedded finance?
Embedded finance refers to the integration of financial services into non-financial products and services. Examples could be “buy-now, pay-later” schemes, apps offering debit cards to partners, and more complex offerings such as loans and investments.

It benefits individual customers by making access to financial services easier as they can access it when they need it and where they need it. No need for a bank or an app. For industry, it helps boost sales and customer loyalty. Adding financial services to their offerings, enterprises help customers buy products and services easily, besides helping them collect payments faster and with more efficiency.

Thus, embedded finance is mutually beneficial to both non-traditional financial service providers as well as banks, because the latter perform the customer-facing interface to distribute products and services. In contrast, banks function as the engine room. By leveraging this additional channel, banks efficiently deliver financial services on scale at reduced cost. This allows banks to optimally utilise their infrastructure without worrying about marketing products via their distribution networks.

The impact of embedded finance on banking
The embedded finance business is also a threat to conventional banking due to growing competition from non-financial companies offering these services. Banks must carefully consider and define their roles within the embedded finance value chain. Here’s how:

Banks have various strategies to navigate the digital landscape. One approach involves serving as an ecosystem curator, where they integrate financial services within a unified digital ecosystem, enhancing customer control but potentially limiting outreach to new clientele. Alternatively, banks can act as back-end capability providers, collaborating with digital platforms to offer foundational capabilities, thus extending customer reach while ceding control over the customer experience. Additionally, banks can opt to be pass-through partners, joining forces with digital platforms to incorporate branded products, enabling them to leverage their technology and maintain a degree of brand connection with customers.

A three-stage approach to unlock the benefits of embedded finance could lead banks onto the path of peaceful co-existence. They should define their strategy after assessing the existing and prospective capabilities, understanding customer requirements, evaluating opportunities for value creation, and establishing clear milestones and objectives. Then follows a go-to-market strategy that involves choosing their roles within the value chain, their product offerings, target markets, customer segments, and strategic partnerships. Finally, they prepare for implementation by assembling dedicated product teams, crafting sustainable business models, determining necessary technological resources, and finalising detailed rollout plans.

The future of embedded finance
Without a doubt, embedded finance will have a profound impact on the financial sector as banks adapt to a new landscape by developing their own set of embedded finance models in tandem with non-finance companies. The focus will be on small and medium businesses (SMBs), that are emerging as prime customers. This is another significant shift in the banking business model where non-traditional finance providers act as intermediaries to integrate their services onto a platform, leading to a more contextual and user-friendly experience for enterprise customers and driving market share growth.

Banks now face the imperative to adapt and capitalise on this emerging trend by positioning themselves as platforms, allowing third-party companies to tap into their APIs and offer value-added services. Failure to do so may lead to a potential loss of up to 8% of their revenue streams from the SME segment, highlighting the urgency to respond to change.

Embedded finance also helps improve financial inclusion via innovation, making products and solutions available to underserved populations. Through partnerships with non-financial companies, banks can develop new and innovative financial products and services.

Embedded finance is a trend that can transform the banking industry. For this to happen, banks must adapt to the changing landscape by integrating their embedded finance capabilities with non-finance entities. This would result in a better customer experience for both individuals and enterprises and provide a growth fillip to the banks.

The post The role of embedded finance in 21st century banking appeared first on International Finance.

Recognising the cashflow challenges faced by these enterprises, Malaysia-based AmBank has introduced ‘AmBank SME Amplify’, aimed at facilitating easier access to financing and empowering SMEs on their journey towards growth and success.

Tailored Solutions For Industries

Small and medium-sized enterprises often struggle with cash flow, which makes it challenging to establish themselves in the market. However, AmBank SME Amplify offers comprehensive solutions to overcome this hurdle and achieve success.

The solution offers a wide range of innovative tools designed for various industries such as food and beverage, e-commerce, retail, fashion, transportation, shipping, professional legal services, and more.

Acting as a centralised hub, the platform aims to address issues related to loan applications, payroll management, and payment acceptance solutions. This way, business owners can focus on growing and nurturing their enterprises, without worrying about these administrative tasks.

SMEs can benefit from no-collateral financing, easy access to working capital, and unlimited cashbacks on operational expenses for business growth.

“To make your business more efficient AmBank SME Amplify also lets you pay your employees hassle-free & cost effectively, get same-day settlement which enables better cash flow and digitally open & operate your business current account conveniently,” the venture told the International Finance further.

Fuelling Business Dreams

AmBank SME Amplify provides comprehensive solutions to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For instance, the ‘SME Working Capital’ solution allows business owners to access up to RM2 million in collateral-free financing, with no lock-in period. This enables them to pursue their growth ambitions without any hindrance.

Additionally, the financial venture offers various solutions, including an interest-bearing business current account that can be easily managed via AmAccess Biz.

This platform provides a range of cash management solutions, including smooth payments, forward exchange contracts, bill payments, and payroll services. Business owners can tailor these solutions to meet their specific needs.

In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can take advantage of unlimited cashback on business expenses by applying for an ‘AmBank Visa Infinite Business Card’ that has no annual fees. Furthermore, they can enjoy up to 58 days of interest-free repayment for all business expenditures.

“AmBank also collaborates with entities like Bank Negara, Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad, and Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan to provide government-assisted financing facilities across all economic sectors, maximising the potential of its SME customers,” the venture stated further.

The Edge In Merchant Business Solutions

The Merchant Business Solution is an essential part of AmBank SME Amplify. It allows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accept cashless payments using various digital payment methods, including DuitNow QR and online and retail transactions via AmBank’s Point of Sale (POS) terminals. With same-day settlement, SMEs can easily receive their payments without delay.

“The innovative Pay-As-You-Grow (PayG) feature, Malaysia’s pioneering term loan linked to POS transactions and Deposit accounts, offers SMEs swift access to loans tailored to their evolving business needs,” AmBank stated further.

Empowering The Fashion Industry

AmBank SME Amplify aims to support Malaysia’s local brands globally. It was launched during the Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week (KLFW) Fashion Connect Point 23 symposium in September 2023.

Aaron Loo, Managing Director of AmBank Retail Banking, while interacting with International Finance, emphasised the platform’s commitment to bolstering the entire fashion industry value chain.

Besides financial solutions, AmBank SME Amplify aims to share valuable information and knowledge to empower businesses in an increasingly competitive environment.

The post AmBank SME Amplify: Empowering business growth via easy access to finance appeared first on International Finance.

This rare central bank news conference is following a spate of weaker readings in recent months from China—the world’s second largest economy—after a sharp drop in its yuan currency against the dollar, and a plunge in Chinese stock markets.

China’s policymakers remain focused on shifting their priorities to reducing risks to growth, as the country’s economy cools down, and the impact of the US trade tariffs begins to be felt. Smaller companies in particular, are havin a tough time securing loans and have to grapple with rising borrowing and operating costs – fueled in part by a lengthy official clampdown on riskier lending like shadow banking.

The PBOC has stated that it will “effectively ease” companies’ financing problems and improve their coordination with other agencies to ensure monetary policy measures are being transmitted into the broader economy.

Analysts are further expecting further cuts in corporate taxes and fees– and the central bank has specified that some funds that are freed up from reductions in banks’ reserve requirements should be earmarked for loans to smaller businesses.

Beijing is also accelerating infrastructure spending to cushion the economy as it braces for the blow from escalating U.S. tariffs. Still, the growing stream of new stimulus measures and easing credit policies have raised fears that debt reduction may be put on the back burner again.

China’s Vice Premier Liu He emphasies the need for the country to beef up capital markets and broaden financing channels for small and medium enterprises on Monday.

China’s economic growth rate slowed slightly to 6.7% in the second quarter year-on-year(YOY)—which is still well above the government’s full-year target of around 6.5%. But some key activity indicators have weakened more sharply and policymakers are getting anxious. Fixed-asset investment is currently growing at the slowest pace on record, while non-performing loans surged in the second quarter, defaults climbed and the jobless rate rose to 5.1%.

The post China says it won’t resort to strong stimulus but will keep liquidity ample appeared first on International Finance.