Overview Across Asia and the Pacific, many women entrepreneurs still struggle to access the finance they need to grow. The broader financing gap is large: an estimated $17 billion for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in Sri Lanka; $235 billion in Indonesia; and $1.08 billion in Fiji, equal to 23% of gross domestic product. For women-led enterprises, the constraint is often deeper because of collateral requirements, limited networks, product design gaps, and lending bias. The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code helps address these barriers by bringing together governments, financial institutions, regulators, and ecosystem partners around a shared agenda. The Code promotes sex-disaggregated data, tailored financial products, capacity building, and measurable targets. Its aim is practical: to change the policies, incentives, data systems, and institutional behaviors that shape how financial services are designed and delivered to women entrepreneurs. Pilots in Fiji, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka show five practical lessons: use reliable sex-disaggregated data, design products with women customers, offer support beyond credit, embed women’s finance into institutional systems, and build internal champions who can turn strategy into practice. Implementation As a key implementing partner for the WE Finance Code, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Women’s Finance Exchange has supported its adoption and implementation in Fiji, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, helping financial institutions strengthen sex-disaggregated data practices and embed gender-responsive approaches into their business operations. ADB has supported the implementation of the Code through technical assistance, knowledge sharing, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building support for participating institutions and ecosystem partners. FijiFiji Development Bank became the first financial institution in Fiji to sign the WE Finance Code on 23 March 2024. Adoption of the Code supported the integration of women’s finance targets into the bank’s corporate planning, management report, and performance frameworks. Its continued disaggregation of data by sex, including by location and economic sector, allows it to better understand patterns in loan uptake, repayment performance, and customer needs. In mid-2022, it launched a financial product to support women entrepreneurs. Apart from a loan offer, the product also includes a parametric insurance cover that provides rapid cash payout for eligible women clients whose home or insured location is impacted by a high wind-speed cyclone event, regardless of the extent of physical damage. IndonesiaAmartha signed the WE Finance Code upon its launch in Indonesia in March 2024. The Code reinforced women’s financial inclusion as a core business priority with board- and executive-level oversight. Its engagement with the Code provided a structured framework to strengthen, formalize, and scale the bank’s women-focused efforts in line with global best practices. Its exposure to the concepts promoted by the Code led to improvements in its working capital loan offer. Insights from existing and potential customers enabled Amartha to develop products with flexible payment better aligned with women entrepreneurs’ cash flow needs. It also streamlined its credit assessment processes, including digitization of its credit underwriting tools to reduce application time, while improving accuracy and ease of access for women customers. Sri LankaHatton National Bank signed on to participate in the WE Finance Code on 18 March 2025. It integrated gender inclusion bank-wide through a Chief Executive Officer-led strategy, a cross-divisional Women Banking Steering Committee (composed of representatives from the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise, Microfinance, Digital Banking, Retail, Risk, Human Resources, and Sustainability divisions), gender diagnostics, sex-disaggregated data systems, and staff gender-smart finance training. In collaboration with ADB and the National Enterprise Development Authority, it further developed and piloted a comprehensive women-focused product suite (tailored loans, capacity building, digital tools, legal/tax advisory, market access, and insurance). Training delivered in August 2025 by ADB’s Women’s Finance Exchange under the WE Finance Code helped the bank further develop its policy and strategy for women entrepreneurs, as well as its sex-disaggregated data collection and reporting framework. Five Lessons from the Pilots The experience of Fiji Development Bank, Amartha in Indonesia, and Hatton National Bank in Sri Lanka shows that the Code works best when it changes day-to-day decisions, not only high-level commitments. 1. Use sex-disaggregated data to identify and grow the women’s market.Sex-disaggregated data helps institutions see the women’s market clearly. It allows them to track loan uptake, repayment performance, location, sector, and customer needs. In Sri Lanka, Hatton National Bank introduced gender tagging, strengthened sex-disaggregated data collection, and upgraded internal systems. These steps helped the bank establish a clearer baseline and identify opportunities to grow its pipeline of women entrepreneurs. Fiji Development Bank shows the same lesson in a smaller market. Although its women-focused product was launched before the bank signed the Code in March 2024, the Code gave it a clearer framework for setting targets and monitoring reach, performance, and impact. Continued disaggregation of data by sex, location, and sector strengthened the bank’s ability to understand women clients and track progress. 2. Design products with women, not just for them.More financing matters, but volume alone is not enough. Products also need to reflect women entrepreneurs’ cash-flow patterns, business risks, and financial goals. When institutions design products with women customers, they can improve both access to finance and effective use of financial services. In Indonesia, Amartha used customer insights to better understand women entrepreneurs’ cash-flow needs and demand for additional services, including micro-insurance and micro-investment products. It then adapted its offerings, introduced more flexible loan products, and digitized credit underwriting tools to reduce application time and improve access. 3. Go beyond credit by offering a broader support ecosystem.Women entrepreneurs often need more than loans. They may also need training, digital tools, advisory support, market access, and insurance. Hatton National Bank’s women-focused product suite reflects this broader approach. Developed with support from ADB and the National Enterprise Development Authority, the suite covers tailored loans, capacity building, digital tools, legal and tax advisory services, market access, and insurance. This shifts women’s finance from a single-product offer to a fuller support system for women-led businesses. 4. Embed women’s finance into governance, targets, and performance systems.Women’s finance is more likely to last when it is built into institutional systems. Amartha, Fiji Development Bank, and Hatton National Bank each used the Code to strengthen leadership commitment, policies, accountability, and reporting. At Hatton National Bank, a Chief Executive Officer-led strategy and cross-divisional Women Banking Steering Committee helped align business units across small and medium-sized enterprise banking, microfinance, digital banking, retail, risk, human resources, and sustainability. Fiji Development Bank integrated women’s finance targets into corporate planning, management reporting, and performance frameworks. 5. Build internal champions who can turn strategy into daily practice.Strategy needs people who can make it real. At Fiji Development Bank, progress was supported not only by leadership but also by small teams across departments that acted as internal gender champions. These staff helped build awareness, influence peers, and keep gender-responsive finance visible in daily operations. Results Early results show why these lessons matter. Institutions that combined better data, customer-informed product design, broader support, governance commitment, and internal accountability were able to expand outreach to women entrepreneurs. Since signing the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code in 2024, Amartha’s female customer base has grown by more than 50%. Its digital underwriting tool and flexible loan tenor have helped the company reach more women and disburse more working capital loans. Fiji Development Bank increased its women’s portfolio accounts by approximately 30% after joining the Code. It also received the 2025 Excellence in Gender Reporting Award from the South Pacific Stock Exchange. In Sri Lanka, Hatton National Bank’s sex-disaggregated data collection helped it better understand the women’s market and design more targeted interventions. After Code adoption, the share of women in its microfinance portfolio increased from 25% to 33% in one year. The bank has also set a target of reaching LKR40 billion (around $118.90 million) in portfolio size and 40% women customers by 2030. The pilots point to a clear conclusion: global frameworks can support measurable progress when they are paired with local implementation, practical data systems, products shaped by women customers, and accountability inside financial institutions. Resources Women’s Finance Exchange. Case Studies. Women’s Finance Exchange. 2026. Amartha: Designing Products with Women Leads to More Responsive Financial Offerings. WE Finance Code Case Study Series. Women’s Finance Exchange. 2026. Fiji Development Bank: Embedding Gender Responsive Finance in Core Operations Improves Outreach to Women. WE Finance Code Case Study Series. Women’s Finance Exchange. 2026. Hatton National Bank: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Through a Comprehensive Suite of Products. WE Finance Code Case Study Series. Ask the Experts Aileen Theresa J. Ruiz Senior Investment Specialist, Private Sector Operations Department, Asian Development Bank Aileen Ruiz-Zarate joined ADB as a Senior Investment Specialist with ADB’s Private Sector Financial Institutions Division in February 2025. Prior to that, she worked with International Finance Corporation’s Financial Institutions Group since 2005. She has led notable transactions in sustainable finance, including ADB’s first investment in Turkiye in Denizbank’s green bond in 2025 and IFC’s first blue bond investment globally. She holds an MBA from Harvard University and a business administration and accountancy degree (magna cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Alexandra Harris Consultant, Private Sector Operations Department, Asian Development Bank Alexandra Harris is a writer, editor, and communications specialist with a focus on sustainable private sector development. She is currently a Knowledge Management Expert at ADB’s Women’s Finance Exchange. She previously worked for the International Finance Corporation and the Asia Foundation. Alexandra holds a master’s degree in international affairs and economics, with a specialization in Southeast Asian studies. She currently resides in Singapore and has previously lived and worked in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Joanna Romero Gender Finance Consultant, Women’s Finance Exchange (WFX) Joanna Romero is a gender finance consultant at WFX, an Asian Development Bank initiative, where she drives gender lens investing and technical assistance. She has more than 15 years of development finance experience. At the IFC/World Bank Group, she worked at the intersection between financial inclusion of SMEs, women’s economic empowerment, and climate finance, and advised senior management of partner financial institutions. She has a Master of Arts degree in International Trade & Investment Policy from George Washington University. 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