Regional—Financial Services Group (FSG Plus)

British International Investment (BII)—formerly CDC Group—is the U.K. Government’s development finance institution. It supports the sustainable, long-term growth of businesses across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Financial Services Group Plus (FSG Plus) is BII’s flagship sector-based technical assistance facility for financial institutions. It works with financial service providers in South Asia and Africa to catalyze investment in low-income businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that focus on climate, gender, inclusion, and related knowledge sharing. For example:

Climate: Supported one of Bangladesh’s largest private commercial banks to strengthen its climate lending capability and identify new green investment opportunities aligned with BII’s climate finance methodology, positioning the bank to attract additional climate finance beyond the original BII loan.

Gender: Supported a BII-backed Indian financial services firm to expand lending to women entrepreneurs. The firm trained 300 loan officers on gender sensitization, launched a women-centered loan product, and saw women borrowers increase by 60 percent in the first year after launch.

Inclusion: Supported an Indian nonbank financial company to design and pilot an innovative supply chain finance product tailored to small retailers, many of whom lack formal credit histories or GST registration, thereby widening access to working capital for underserved businesses.

Research and Events: Funded research on the role of securitization in developing African capital markets and launched the findings at the AFSIC 2025 conference. Jointly commissioned with FSD Africa, the report provides a practical assessment of market conditions, barriers to scale, and opportunities for growth.

FSG Plus focuses on three core areas:

1. Supporting the BII portfolio by providing technical assistance to BII investees.

2. Unlocking new impactful BII investments by working closely with potential investees.

3. Strengthening the impact investing field by supporting BII market-building initiatives, producing research, and delivering events to drive change in the financial sector.

Sample Activities

FSG Plus works with partner financial institutions to develop new or improved products and services, reach new markets or segments, and improve core processes and systems. Activities include:

• Co-creating technical assistance projects with BII Deal and Investment teams and BII’s investees, guiding these from design to implementation and holding overall governance responsibilities.
• Supporting financial service providers in developing new financial products according to “best fit”—tailored to the local market context. These products also promote climate risk management along the pillars of the Task Force on Climate Finance Disclosure and Climate Finance and upgrade environmental, social, and governance standards.
• Ensuring a diverse and balanced portfolio of technical assistance projects, using feedback loops to maximize the synergies between the projects.
• Commissioning research on frontier markets, digital financial services, and agribusinesses, among other topics of financial inclusion interest. Disseminating findings through far-reaching events targeted at financial institutions.
• Selecting, contracting, and managing the performance of a pool of local and international technical assistance providers.

Select Results

FSG Plus is helping financial institutions expand their reach and improve how they serve businesses and communities.

• 55 financial institutions supported through direct technical assistance
• 450 financial institutions reached through events and research
• 60 practice changes recorded, including new or improved products, entry into new markets or segments, and stronger internal systems or processes
• 12 institutions supported to overcome critical barriers to product development and growth