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ITU tackles financial inclusion for 2 billion people
ITU focus group on Digital Financial Services hosts telco and financial
services regulators from across the globe in Kuala Lumpur
Geneva, 16 September 2015 – Almost a year after its launch,
the
ITU Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (DFS) for Financial Inclusion
is preparing to host its global meeting to discuss how the international
telecommunications and financial services communities can work together to
tackle one of the world’s most challenging social and economic issues: access to
formal financial services by the world’s poorest two billion people.
The Focus Group, incorporating 60 organizations from some 30 countries, aims
to bridge the gap between telecommunications and financial services regulators,
and the private and public sectors. Representatives from across the DFS
ecosystem will pragmatically address some of the major issues currently
preventing DFS from serving the unbanked.
Four working groups have been established, led by a balanced composition of
regulatory authorities, operators and consumer protection organizations. They
are developing a set of operational recommendations, tools and solutions that
will fast track policy reform to support numerous developing countries in
implementing the financial inclusion strategy and promoting DFS at scale.
Initial findings will be discussed in Kuala Lumpur from 30 September to 2
October and at the next meeting in Geneva in December. Final reports are
expected to be published late in 2016.
“By leveraging the rapid growth of existing mobile networks and the use of
cell phones, the majority of cash transactions can be shifted into digital
form,” said Sacha Polverini, Chairman of the Focus Group and Senior Programme
Officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Innovative digital payment
systems can reduce transaction costs up to 90 per cent, giving financial
institutions, mobile network operators and a new set of service providers the
ability to create innovative new financial products tailored to the needs of the
poor.”
Regulation is a key factor. However, the payment industry has found it
challenging to launch and scale services for the unbanked – an issue that
affects up to 2 billion people globally, the majority of which are based in
India, China and Indonesia. This is because many policy and regulatory
environments are not genuinely enabling the organic development of a competitive
DFS ecosystem that can reach the poor. In addition, the conversation around DFS
has primarily taken place at a national level and between financial service
regulators and standard setting bodies.
“Given the important role that mobile can play in addressing DFS, ITU is in a
unique position to bring together both telco and financial service regulators
and industry from around the world to develop a common international framework
that generates better understanding and provides practical solutions” said ITU
Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
After Kuala Lumpur the Focus Group will hold its next meeting in Geneva from
15 to 17 December 2015 when in-depth discussions are expected to take place. The meeting in Geneva will be preceded by a one-day
workshop on Digital Financial Services and Financial Inclusion.
For more information, please contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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Marcus Pepperell
Sophia Lyscom
FTI Consulting
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