August 4, 2015 - On July 1, 2015, a task force led by the World Bank and FIRST Initiative released a consultation on the Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Public Credit Guarantee Schemes for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The IIF is a member of the task force.

Many banks use such schemes and have reported impediments to their usage, as detailed in an IIF survey. The Task Force has produced a set of nonbinding Principles to guide the development of schemes that provide maximum benefit to alleviating the SME financing gap and the least amount of market distortion. IIF members are invited to participate in an ongoing public consultation, and comments should be submitted by August 31, 2015: https://consultations.worldbank.org/consultation/developing-principles-public-credit-guarantee-schemes-cgss-smes.

Other members of the Task Force include: the Arab Monetary Fund, the Asian Credit Supplementation Institution Confederation, the Association of African Development Finance Institutions, the European Association of Mutual Guarantee Societies, and the Ibero-American Guarantee Network.