Swisa Pongpech

Financing SMEs: Considerations for the Climate Transition

Swisa's DPhil research examines the role of financial institutions in enabling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to access finance for the climate transition. Her work focuses on Southeast Asia and explores the role of institutional contexts and policy frameworks.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Swisa served as Head of Research Group (Sustainability) at the Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research (PIER), Bank of Thailand. She was the inaugural Deputy Director of the Sustainable Banking Division at the Bank of Thailand where she helped establish the financial sector's commitment to sustainable finance. She has also worked as a consultant with the International Finance Corporation.

With over twenty years in central banking, Swisa has worked on policy formulation in financial development, liberalization, inclusion and financial markets. She also represented Thailand in several ASEAN working groups and free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.

Swisa holds an MBA in Finance and Strategic Management from SASIN Graduate Institute of Business Administration (Joint degree with Wharton, Kellogg and Chulalongkorn University) and a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

• Ariyapruchya, S. and Volz, U. (2022) Sustainable finance in Southeast Asia. In, Schoenmaker, D and U Volz (eds) (2022) Scaling Up Sustainable Finance and Investment in the Global South. CEPR Press, Paris & London.