But she will find many barriers put up between her needs and the bank's requirements which make access to credit more difficult than she would have imagined. For example, the bank will probably require her to provide collateral or some form of guarantee, a proper business plan, and very likely her husband's signature if she is married. The issue of collateral is a particularly serious one. Equally important is the very common requirement that loans to married women require the signature of their husbands while the reverse is not true. While this may not be legally necessary according to the laws governing banks in many countries, it has become accepted practice and, as such, another impediment to women obtaining access to credit.
Women face other obstacles when dealing with commercial banks.
For example, they often encounter barriers even to open a bank account so that they can increase their savings in order to finance their own expansion or provide security for a future loan. In many developing countries, the financial sector tends to be dominated by rigidly structured financial institutions based on colonial models. They need to be replaced with more flexible institutions which respond better to the needs of the population they serve. For the most part, banks in the developing world are not responsive to the needs of small business and even less so to women clients. Banks which require depositors to show proof of employment and to make a large initial deposit discriminate against the woman entrepreneur whose modest deposits may build up over time.