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Amira Karim
Head of International Public Policy, Payments & Financial Services
Amazon
Amira Karim is a global public policy and payments leader at Amazon, where she works at the intersection of emerging technologies, AI, agentic commerce, and next-generation financial infrastructure. Her work focuses on the evolving policy architecture required for trusted digital commerce, including cross-border payments, digital identity, stablecoins, and programmable money, with an emphasis on governance, interoperability, and trust in the digital economy.
Prior to Amazon, Amira held roles across government, international development, and the private sector, including at Stripe, where she worked on global market expansion and international development initiatives focused on digital payments, financial inclusion, and the growth of digital economies across emerging markets. She has also worked alongside institutions including the World Bank. Based in Seattle and originally from Singapore, she engages closely with governments, regulators, multilateral institutions, and industry leaders globally on the future of trusted AI-enabled commerce and digital economic systems.
Speaking At
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1:45–3:15pmTue 17 NovPublic-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 4Open
Shaping Tomorrow's Innovation
Policy Meets Capital: An Enabling Environment for SME Finance
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Amira KarimHead of International Public Policy, Payments & Financial ServicesAmazon
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Helena ForestExecutive Vice President, Global Product & Commercial, Real Time PaymentsMastercard
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Jiang FangfangAsia Lead for Digital Financial ServiceInternational Finance Corporation
About this session
SMEs in developing economies face a financing gap of about US$5.7 trillion, and it is growing faster than the economies themselves. Supply alone will not close it. Policy, data and market infrastructure must develop alongside it.
This closed-door roundtable brings ministers responsible for SMEs together with leaders from payments, fintech, banking and development finance. It looks at three questions:
- Which cross-border payment and trade-finance rails would help SMEs sell abroad?
- How can governments crowd in private lending at scale?
- What role should the public sector play in enabling digital lending, including alternative data and AI credit scoring?
As a Singapore stop on the Road to Geneva, the discussion will produce priorities for the 2nd Global SME Ministerial Meeting in May 2027 and for the SME Trade Finance Facility.
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