Page 11 - FIGI Digital Financial Services Consumer Competency Framework

Digital Financial Services Consumer

Competency Framework

1 INTRODUCTION

New technologies and the digital provision of Moreover, low financial literacy rates globally suggest
payment and other financial services are rapidly that more attention needs to be paid to improving
changing the landscape of finance in both devel- DFS competences; and the failure to do so not only
oped and developing economies. E-money issuers puts vulnerable financial consumers and potentially
and social media platforms such as WeChat, Alipay, financial systems at risk, but it also makes the job of
Google, and most recently WhatsApp (in India), have the financial and telecom regulators more difficult.
reshaped financial/payment services, leveraging the The main purpose of this report is to recommend
vast amounts of data they harvest from consum- a framework that identifies the core competences
ers’ online purchases, conversations in the form of that DFS consumers are generally expected to have
text, audio, video, emails, social network posts and in order to effectively make use of digital financial
combining them to deliver new, targeted, frictionless services.
financial services with minimal product development DFS Consumer Competency Framework identi-
timelines. Similarly, these platforms are a conduit of fies the knowledge, skills and attitudes consumers
information for financial consumers. need to participate actively, safely and have trust in
Whilst DFS innovations offer a great opportunity the digital financial services ecosystem� The DFS
for expanding financial services to larger numbers Consumer Competency Framework is intended for
of people, especially the financially excluded and use by public authorities, regulators, DFS providers
women, they also pose challenges for consumers and policymakers when developing consumer edu-
who must be able to use the new technologies for cation/training programmes for digital financial ser-
financial transactions in a secure manner, having vices.
the trust and necessary competences to understand
the risks, and make informed decisions when using
digital financial services. DFS implementations have
suffered from infrequent continuous usage despite
high registration numbers. Active usage depends on
many factors; however, one crucial factor is to ensure
consumers have the necessary skills and knowledge
to trust and competence to use the service.

Digital Financial Services Consumer Competency Framework 9