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> Posted by Center Staff
Financial Inclusion Forum UK event yesterday at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
This post is part of Financial Inclusion Week, 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.
We are one day into Financial Inclusion Week 2016 and are so excited to already see stakeholders from across the globe coming together to discuss the week’s theme of keeping clients first in a digital world. As our global financial ecosystem undergoes a digital revolution, we are presented with great opportunities and great challenges to extending financial services in a responsible manner. At CFI, we believe that access to financial services is not enough. We define financial inclusion as “a state in which everyone who can use them has access to a full suite of quality financial services provided at affordable prices, in a convenient manner, with respect and dignity. Additionally, financial services are delivered by a range of providers, in a stable, competitive market to financially capable clients.”
Keeping clients first in a digital world requires looking beyond access to the essentials of quality services and client treatment. Financial technology has the potential to improve access, as well as the potential to improve convenience, lower prices, and build financial capability. However, fintech also has the potential to take away some of the respect and dignity present in an in-person banking transaction, and it can present new risks. We hope that this week you will explore the best ways to ensure that this digital revolution is not compromising clients, but instead further protecting them against risks and empowering them through new channels.
What’s Happening
Financial Inclusion Forum UK: Last night in London, over 200 stakeholders gathered at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for a conversation focused on “The Progress and Future of Financial Inclusion.” The three-hour event, organized by the Financial Inclusion Forum UK, consisted of a keynote and two panel discussions. The first panel discussion, featuring representatives from CDC, VisionFund, and EBRD, and moderated by Yasmina McCarty of GSMA, assessed current progress in financial inclusion. The second panel looked to the future with panelists from Financial Services for All, DoPay, Leapfrog Labs, and the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation.
> Posted by Center Staff
Today, the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI), Citi Foundation, and CFI released the latest Microfinance Banana Skins Report, Facing Reality. The first Microfinance Banana Skins was published in 2008, launching a regular series on risks facing the microfinance industry. This fifth iteration in the series reflects the growing complexity of microfinance as newer players such as technology companies, payment platforms, commercial banks, and others begin to serve those at the base of the pyramid. The new report outlines the risks and opportunities facing microfinance in a fast-changing environment.
Despite these challenges, the number one concern is still an old favorite: overindebtedness, which was also the number one concern in the previous report in 2012.
The report presents the risk perceptions of more than 300 practitioners and close industry observers from 70 countries, gathered through a survey. The report provides a commentary on each of the 19 risks that are identified in the survey and breaks down responses by type and region. It also includes a detailed analysis of the condition and prospects for microfinance by industry experts Sam Mendelson and Daniel Rozas.
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