[caption id="attachment_22232" align="alignright" width="330"]<img class="wp-image-22232" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-21-pic-11.jpg" width="330" height="228" /> Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique event[/caption]

This post is part of <a href="http://www.fi2020week.org/">Financial Inclusion Week</a>, a week of global conversation on advancing financial inclusion. This year’s theme is keeping clients first in a digital world. Throughout the week participants will share their thoughts in events and webinars, on social media, and through blog posts. Add your voice to the conversation using #FinclusionWeek.

It's Friday, which means that Financial Inclusion Week 2016 is almost a wrap. We hope you've enjoyed all the festivities and happenings as much as we have. But before you sign off for the weekend and close the book on this year's global week to advance financial inclusion, check out some of the activities from yesterday, day four, as well as the handful of activities that remain. And if you're on Twitter, be sure to join our final #FinclusionWeek discussions on keeping clients first in fintech!

What’s Happening

Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique held an event focused on investment opportunities to boost small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mozambique. The conversation was fueled by new research from the organization, and served to launch a new publication, Private Equity Investment Opportunities in Mozambican SMEs – Agribusiness Edition. The event brought together a variety of stakeholders to explore the role that private equity can play in empowering agricultural enterprises in Mozambique. Stay tuned for the release of the report.

In the <a href="http://digitalfrontiersinstitute.org/the-institute/">Digital Frontiers Institute’s</a> (DFI) second webinar for Financial Inclusion Week 2016, DFI’s David Porteus and Mackenzie Wallace, formerly of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (<a href="http://www.consumerfinance.gov/">CFPB</a>) and currently policy advisor for digital finance at USAID, discussed the emergence of regtech and its ability to amplify the voice of the consumer, highlighting the work of the CFPB.

[caption id="attachment_22242" align="alignright" width="275"]<img class="wp-image-22242" style="border: 0 solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/good-good.jpg" width="275" height="367" /> Good Shephard Microfinance training[/caption]

The CFPB was created in 2011 to provide a single point of accountability for enforcing federal consumer financial laws and protecting consumers in the financial marketplace. During its time the CFPB has handled nearly 1 million complaints from consumers using a distinctive product suite, providing individual assistance to consumers (for example, ensuring they receive a response from companies regarding their complaints within 15 days) and to companies. The CFPB’s public complaint database has become a powerful tool for sharing the best practices of financial service providers and providing incentives for companies to respond to consumers and improve their practices -- all while giving consumers the information they need to feel empowered and comfortable in the financial technologies that they use. Additionally, the CFPB has integrated elements of fintech to ensure the consumers' right to privacy. For example, the CFPB employs AI to automatically scrub-out personally identifiable information [PII] in the complaint database) to ensure the consumers’ right to privacy. Regtech is certainly a global movement that can help us to achieve regulatory and other goals and can be replicated in developing and emerging market contexts.

Good Shephard Microfinance in Australia hosted an annual training and networking event for their microfinance workers from across the state of Queensland. The theme for the training this year was “putting the client first”, and the participants, mostly front-line staff, focused on issues of client protection.

IFMR LEAD hosted an internal roundtable assessing how to keep clients first in their own work. The roundtable focused specifically on evidence-based customer-centricity. Participants examined the draw to informal financial services, exploring the lessons that can be learned from moneylenders and informal financiers. Ultimately the discussions focused on how to empower customers, and step beyond simply including them in the formal financial sector.

[caption id="attachment_22244" align="aligncenter" width="615"]<img class="wp-image-22244" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/10-21-pic-31.jpg" width="615" height="402" /> IFMR roundtable[/caption]

In Nepal, Sakchyam Access to Finance Program brought together partner bank staff and their branchless banking agents to discuss how to keep clients at the center of technological initiatives. Participants identified a number of challenges to protecting and empowering clients in their work. These included verifying and keeping clients’ data safe, offering a variety of products and services demanded by clients, effectively training agents and clients to properly understand products, and monitoring agents’ behavior. One key element identified for addressing these challenges is effectively gathering and incorporating client feedback, and therefore an outcome of the roundtable was the decision that client feedback be used to influence the bank agent training program for the 453 branchless banking access points.

Online Conversation

European Microfinance Platform - <a href="http://www.e-mfp.eu/blog/preventing-client-over-indebtedness-cambodia">Preventing Client Overindebtedness in Cambodia</a>
Daniel Rozas, a senior microfinance expert at the European Microfinance Platform, offers context on the Cambodian microfinance market and its current client overindebtedness concerns. He outlines the steps being taken to address these concerns, which include MFIs creating a set of lender guidelines that will provide a self-regulatory framework, and enlisting the Credit Bureau of Cambodia (CBC) to ensure that MFI commitments are independently monitored.

Premasis Mukherjee of the International Finance Corporation - <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/financial-inclusion-what-demand-says-supply-premasis-mukherjee?deepLinkCommentId=6194785159502495744&amp;anchorTime=1476951875577&amp;trk=hb_ntf_MEGAPHONE_ARTICLE_COMMENT">Financial Inclusion: What Demand Says to Supply</a>
Premasis Mukherjee examines the financial inclusion supply versus demand debate, and considers the viewpoint that financial inclusion is an agenda to include formal financial services as part of people's existing financial lives. He offers examples of how formal financial services can be a mismatch for the financial needs of the unbanked and gives three main hurdles that banks and financial services providers must cross.

For more, including the week’s full event list and a curated #FinclusionWeek social media feed, visit the <a href="http://www.fi2020week.org/">Financial Inclusion Week website</a>.

Financial Inclusion Week Round-Up – Day 4

Regulators

Mozambique

Nepal

Agent Banking

Blog Post

&gt; Posted by Center Staff

[caption id="attachment_22181" align="alignright" width="340"]<img class="wp-image-22181" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/fi-3.jpg" width="340" height="191" /> Janautthan Samudayic Laghubitta Bikash Bank Limited event in Nepal[/caption]

This post is part of <a href="http://www.fi2020week.org/">Financial Inclusion Week</a>, a week of global conversation on advancing financial inclusion. This year’s theme is keeping clients first in a digital world. Throughout the week participants will share their thoughts in events and webinars, on social media, and through blog posts. Add your voice to the conversation using #FinclusionWeek.

It is day three of <a href="http://www.fi2020week.org/">Financial Inclusion Week 2016</a> and while we are sad to be more than half-way through, we are so excited by the conversations that have already happened! Already, Financial Inclusion Week events have taken place in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Nepal, and Tanzania, among other locations.

Before we dive into a recap of the events that happened yesterday – we encourage you to take another look at the <a href="http://www.fi2020week.org/publicevents">list of webinars</a> happening during the rest of the week and register today to participate. Additionally, we encourage you to join the Twitter conversation with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/finclusionweek?f=tweets&amp;vertical=default&amp;src=hash">#FinclusionWeek</a>. Starting today, CFI (<a href="https://twitter.com/CFI_Accion">@CFI_Accion</a>) will be asking a number of questions to the Financial Inclusion Week community focused on the theme, keeping clients first in a digital world.

What’s Happening

In Luxembourg yesterday, the ADA held a panel discussion exploring keeping clients first in mobile banking and microfinance. The conversation was led by Laurent de la Vaissière, Director of the Information &amp; Technology Risk Department at Deloitte and included Devyani Parameshwar, Lead Development Manager of M-PESA at Vodafone, and James Onyutta, Managing Director of Musoni Kenya. You can watch the full conversation below.


[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09z5f9Z2__s&amp;w=560&amp;h=315]

In the first of the Digital Frontiers Institute’s (DFI) Financial Inclusion Week webinars, DFI’s Ignacio Mas and Accion’s Kathleen Yaworsky addressed the subject of people’s financial coping mechanisms and how digital financial services (DFS) providers can better integrate behavioral insights into their product design and customer engagement strategies. Looking at key differences between the more affluent and those at the base of the pyramid, Ignacio identified four main motivations that should guide the industry: [moving] beyond convenience, beyond data, beyond our own money management attitudes, and beyond products. Kathleen highlighted the importance of the goals of financial inclusion, and suggested that DFS focus on more flexible product design and enhanced customer engagement in order to help create a sense of engagement with and ownership of these products for the many people who are accessing DFS for the first time. Kathleen also provided examples of DFS products that have successfully incorporated behaviorally-informed practices and other technologies (e.g., social media platforms) to help build users’ financial capability beyond traditional financial education [methods/techniques] and give them the tools that they need to navigate their own financial journeys.

In Nepal, Janautthan Samudayic Laghubitta Bikash Bank Limited held a seminar at Butwal-11, Rupandehi, Nepal to discuss the topic of financial literacy and the role of digital media. Over 80 clients, most of which female, joined the seminar and explored the role of digital media in building their financial literacy and capability.

<a href="https://twitter.com/snigdhak17/status/788491114659647488"><img class="alignright wp-image-22183" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/fi-3-1.png" width="350" height="341" /></a>In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Business and Government PIC – Fintech Committee explored the role that fintech can play in reaching wider development goals, and identified the regions that are currently hotbeds for fintech innovation. David Porteous led the conversation and suggested that the next big thing in financial technology will hopefully be informed consumer voices coming forward in the ecosystem.

Online Conversation

UK Financial Inclusion Commission – <a href="http://www.financialinclusioncommission.org.uk/news/21">Financial Inclusion Can Be Good for Financial Service Businesses as well as for People</a>
In the second of the UK Financial Commission's daily Financial Inclusion Week blog posts, Laurie Edmans, Financial Inclusion Commissioner, turns to the business case of financial inclusion.  Edmans argues that financial inclusion initiatives must be commercially viable to work and highlights two experiences in the UK where this has been the case: getting lower paid employees to have pensions savings, and expanding insurance access to those exposed to flooding.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation - <a href="https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/blog/post/edu-action-financial-inclusion-practice">Edu-Action: Financial Inclusion in Practice </a>
The Foundation highlights how the field of behavioral economics can help us understand how and why people structure their financial lives the way they do. The post inspects the approaches and effectiveness of several behaviorally-inspired interventions, which represent a shift from basic classroom-style financial education. Previous blog posts from the Foundation that focus on financial inclusion also include <a href="https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/blog/post/jpmorgan-chase-s-dedication-inclusion?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=fiweek&amp;utm_medium=tweet">JPMorgan Chase’s Dedication to Financial Inclusion</a> and <a href="https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/blog/post/what-business-doing-prepare-kids-success-digital-economy?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=fiweek&amp;utm_medium=tweet">What Business Is Doing to Prepare Kids for Success in the Digital Economy</a>.

For more, including the week’s full event list and a curated #FinclusionWeek social media feed, visit the <a href="http://www.fi2020week.org/">Financial Inclusion Week website</a>.

Financial Inclusion Week Round-Up – Day 2

South Africa

United Kingdom

United States

Digital Financial Services

&gt; Posted by Center Staff

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/5791349306/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-17882" style="border: 0 solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/5791349306_801bd87a6e_b.jpg" alt="" width="610" height="406" /></a>Unless you’re with one of the few organizations working to combat youth financial exclusion, you probably don’t hear much about the issue. A few weeks ago, the world celebrated <a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2015/03/13/the-global-movement-to-bank-one-of-the-worlds-most-underserved-segments/">Global Money Week</a>, which is gaining encouraging participation and engagement. Sadly, aside from this annual blitz of activity, there isn’t much in the airwaves on expanding financial access to this hugely underserved client segment. According to the Global Findex, in higher-income countries, 42 percent of youth save in financial institutions. The next highest regions are East Asia &amp; Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa, where this rate is 19 and 9 percent respectively. During our youth, financial services and financial education help us save for the future, form good money management behaviors, and navigate life transitions like getting an education and starting a family.

The MasterCard Foundation, as spotlighted in a recently released report, has been quietly busy these past seven years working to address this shortcoming. Since 2008, the Foundation in partnership with six organizations has worked with over 30 financial services providers and non-profits to expand youth access to banking services. The new report, <a href="http://www.mastercardfdn.org/what-we-are-learning/publications/youth-financial-inclusion">Financial Services for Young People: Prospects and Challenges</a>, reviews the MasterCard Foundation’s youth financial inclusion projects for insights and learning to inform future industry efforts.

Across the projects, clients’ target age range was 12 to 19 years old. The work included urban and rural areas, formal providers and informal community groups. Most of the projects were in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Ecuador, Nepal, Colombia, and Morocco. In sub-Saharan Africa, where financial inclusion is especially low, there are 370 million people between the ages of 15 and 24.The projects tested a range of approaches, most based on savings, as opposed to credit. Project activities included market research, product development and testing, the delivery of financial education, the scaling of services offerings, building life skills, and other support. To date, as part of the projects, 762,100 young people have received financial education and life skills instruction, and 720,100 have opened new savings accounts.

As for the findings? Here is a handful of project takeaways, based on the four questions explored in the report:

Do young people need financial services? The demand for youth financial services is clear. Along with the impressive number of young people who participated in the projects, it’s estimated that, across sub-Saharan Africa, young people hold $2.2 billion in savings accounts, with the lower-income clients in this group accounting for almost half of this figure. Like other client segments, even when young people don’t have access to formal financial services, they save their money, borrow funds to meet needs, launch income-generating activities, and plan for the future. The project found that if younger people perceive products offer value and fair pricing, they are eager to learn about financial services and willing to pay for them.

Does financial access benefit young people? Project findings indicate that better savings and budgeting activities emerge with access to either formal or informal savings services. Other benefits include reduced costs of transactions, greater perceived safety of transactions, and “halo” or secondary benefits like enhanced confidence, access to opportunities, and an orientation toward the future.

What do we know about the business case for providing financial services to young people? Low transaction amounts and account balances make it costly for financial services providers catering to younger clients. However, in urban markets where competition will likely drive down costs, children and youth will likely become increasingly viable client segments in the future. Encouraging frequent account usage, product cross-selling to families and friends, and technology-enabled business models can improve the business model for providers. Additional support from donors and governments may be needed to help extend service offerings to particularly excluded youth in hard-to-reach areas.

How do we create regulatory and policy environments for the greater financial inclusion of young people? Proof of identify, address, and age are often barriers to access for youth clients. The report finds that the costs of complying with Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering regulations, and reporting requirements, are onerous for providers. Stakeholder groups, including regulators, national policy-makers, and services providers, need to coordinate to ensure that young people who open accounts are protected, and barriers to access are lowered.

For additional findings, including next steps to advance youth inclusion, read the report, <a href="http://www.mastercardfdn.org/what-we-are-learning/publications/youth-financial-inclusion">Financial Services for Young People: Prospects and Challenges</a>.

Image credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/5791349306/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gates Foundation</a>

Have you read?

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2014/10/17/credit-suisse-sponsored-event-focuses-on-financial-capability-and-the-policy-and-business-case-for-youth-financial-inclusion/">Credit Suisse-Sponsored Event Focuses on Financial Capability and the Policy and Business Case for Youth Financial Inclusion</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2015/03/13/the-global-movement-to-bank-one-of-the-worlds-most-underserved-segments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Global Movement to Bank One of the World's Most Underserved Segments</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/11/18/riding-financial-inclusion-disruption-are-youth-savers-the-surfers-or-the-wave/">Riding Financial Inclusion Disruption: Are Youth Savers the Surfers or the Wave?</a>

Financial Services for Young People: Prospects and Challenges

Ecuador

Morocco

Financial Inclusion 2020

Credit

Youth

&gt; Posted by Center Staff

This week the global financial inclusion community saw a mini-milestone: with the newly signed-on Nepal, 40 countries have committed to the Maya Declaration. The Maya Declaration is a global and measurable set of commitments by developing and emerging country governments to greater financial inclusion.

When a country commits to the Maya Declaration, they make measurable commitments in four financial inclusion areas: create an enabling environment to harness new technology that increases access and lowers costs of financial services; implement a proportional framework that advances synergies in financial inclusion, integrity, and stability; integrate consumer protection and empowerment as a key pillar of financial inclusion; utilize data for informed policymaking and tracking results.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJwYXai02Wo&amp;w=560&amp;h=315]

Nepal announced its Maya Declaration commitment on Tuesday. In the commitment, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) vowed to increase the country's financial literacy through the development of a national-level Financial Literacy Strategy by mid-2014. The bank also committed to conducting a financial literacy program for students, "NRB with Students," and widely disseminating financial literacy materials to promote public awareness. To strengthen the country's mobile money services, the commitment includes provisions to improve the quality of existing mobile money services and to introduce new services before the end of 2014. Also before the end of 2014, Nepal's commitment outlines that NRB will direct a national-level survey on rural credit and create a Financial Sector Development Strategy. Other recent country commitments came from Belarus this past May and El Salvador this past March.

The Maya Declaration was established at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion's (AFI) Global Policy Forum in 2011, with AFI network members collectively adopting its financial inclusion policy principles. There were <a href="http://www.afi-global.org/sites/default/files/publications/AFI_GPF2011_planner.pdf" target="_blank">80 member institutions from 76 countries</a> at the time of the Forum. The network has since expanded, growing to <a href="http://www.afi-global.org/afi-celebrates-over-100-members" target="_blank">100 member institutions</a> this past spring. At the 2011 Forum, a number of member institutions made the first Maya Declaration commitments for their respective 17 countries.

For more on the Maya Declaration, <a href="http://www.afi-global.org/library/publications/quick-guide-maya-declaration-financial-inclusion" target="_blank">click here</a>. For a list of the countries that have made Maya Declaration commitments, <a href="http://www.afi-global.org/maya-declaration" target="_blank">click here</a>.

Have you read?

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2012/11/07/seven-trends-to-watch-in-the-march-to-achieve-full-financial-inclusion-for-all/" target="_blank">Seven Trends in the March to Achieve Full Financial Inclusion for All</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/01/30/savings-groups-and-the-mdgs/" target="_blank">Savings Groups and the MDGs</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/02/13/giving-clients-a-fair-deal-actionable-recommendations-for-effective-client-protection/" target="_blank">Giving Clients a Fair Deal: Actionable Recommendations for Effective Client Protection</a>

Forty Countries (and Counting) Committed to the Maya Declaration

Hema Bansal

Senior Director, South and Southeast Asia, Smart Campaign

South Africa is a global hub for fintech innovation. Accion supports and advises South African innovators using technology to help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and families protect their homes around the world.