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The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions, experiences and behaviors of women entrepreneurs and industry professionals in raising finance for women-led businesses and associated problems faced by the women entrepreneurs.

This qualitative research adopts a narrative inquiry strategy. In-depth interviews are used to collect data from women entrepreneurs and women industry professionals in Pakistan. NVivo qualitative data analysis software is used to organize, analyze and find insights in the qualitative data.

This research finds that women entrepreneurs struggle to secure financing for their businesses, and most of them have not been successful in obtaining loans from banks. Women entrepreneurs have relied on various sources of funding, including microfinance banks, grants, personal finance and family members. Some of the barriers to finance attainment for women entrepreneurs include sociocultural inhibitions, lack of awareness and limited information dissemination by financial institutions. Women professionals suggest that entrepreneurs should maintain a bank account, have proper documentation and show dedication to their business to improve their chances of obtaining financing.

This research provides theoretical contributions and methodological advancements in the study of financial inclusion for women-owned businesses in Pakistan. This research raises awareness about the difficulties women entrepreneurs face when trying to obtain credit from banks and other financial institutions and provides policy recommendations to inform the government about financial inclusion policies and financing policies for women entrepreneurs. Overall, this research contributes to the literature on financial access and access to finance for women-owned businesses in developing countries.

Based on the vulnerable group theory and theory of discouraged borrower, this paper has two important theoretical and practical implications. First, the findings of this study reveal that the financial services are indifferent to women, and there is a denial of women being vulnerable in the financial system, hence requiring a major policy shift to not portray women as vulnerable, as they will rationally feel risky and prefer to opt out of the financial system. Second, the findings suggest that the issue of access to finance for women is not in the financial services but in the women's capabilities and awareness. Therefore, a policy shift is suggested from “financial services for women” to “capability and awareness of women” to avail and access the current services.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the reputational risk, which is elusive and difficult to measure due to the lack of its conclusive definition. Literature supports the notion that financial risks may translate into reputational risks that pose threat to bank performance. However, empirical investigations in this context are still at their nascent stage.

This study has used a panel dataset for the sample of 24 conventional and Islamic banks regarding the period 2007–2017 by using a structural equation model.

The results of this study show that reputational risk partially mediates the relationship between financial risks and the performance of conventional banks. However, for Islamic banks, the reputational risk remains insignificant as a mediator. This study provides significant implications to risk managers in banks, regulators and academics to understand the role of reputational risk linked to financial risks for the improvement of bank performance.

This study aims to add to the literature by measuring reputational risk through the shareholders reputational score index, which is used as a mediator to determine whether financial risks of banks affect the performance of conventional and Islamic banks in Pakistan.