AFI’s 13th Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG) meeting wrapped up four days of meetings in the historic city of Dilijan, Armenia on Friday. Moderated by DFSWG manager, Ricardo Estrada, and led lead by the DFSWG Chair, Mikhail Mamuta (Central Bank of the Russian Federation), and the DFSWG Co-Chair, Elly Ohene (Bank of Ghana), participants explored a wide range of DFS issues, followed up on Madagascar’s e-money draft law that was peer reviewed in the 12th DFSWG meeting, reviewed significant policy changes from five member institutions and conducted a new peer review of upcoming regulations on mobile payment from the Central Bank of Sudan.

Invited stakeholders to the DFS sessions included Gunnar Camner, GSMA, and participating via Skype, Venkatesen Mauree, International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and Tillman Bruett, UNCDF-MM4P.

The DFS members broke into subgroups to work on updating the DFS Terminology Guideline Note and the National Retail Payment Systems for Financial Inclusion Guideline Note, the merger of the DFS Regulations and Statistics Library with the Inventory of Digital Financial Instruments and Services, and the creation of a new subgroup formed to update the MFS Access and Usage Indicators on cooperation with AFI’s Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG).

Participants undertook field trips in Dilijan and in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. First, they had a chance to see firsthand the technology behind CBA’s Dilijan Training and Research Center and how it supports some regulated financial institutions when it comes to sharing resources for data processing. While in Yerevan, a visit to the Armenian Payment System Provider, MobiDram and its main partner an Armenian fintech company called Volo, provided an insight into this regulated e-money issuer’s business model and its most relevant features including cash in and cash out capabilities, utility payments collection, local and international e-money transfers. The DFSWG members had the chance to engage in live discussions regarding the scheme of the model and also the prudential regulations framework developed by CBA. One outstanding innovation MobiDram shared is the new digital credit service that is to be launched during the second quarter of the year in Armenia.

The DSF meeting concluded with members agreeing to complete and publish the revised DFS Terminology Guideline Note #1 by June this year, prepare a first draft of National Retail Payment System & Financial Inclusion guideline note by the end of April, create a first list of DFSWG members DFS regulations for the digital library by the end of May, and having a first draft of the revised and updated MFS Access and Usage Indicators Guideline Note ready for review at the end of August. Besides the timelines and work commitments from the Subgroups, the DFSWG had its first internal DFSWG Guideline Notes Quiz which encouraged all members to stay updated and do continuous stocktaking of the knowledge the WG has produced over the years.

“This has been the most productive DFS working group meeting ever. Today we leave with a clear road map before us and a solid set of commitments from all Subgroups for the development and finalization of knowledge products that will provide tremendous benefit for the entire AFI network,” said Mr. Estrada. An insightful brainstorming exercise took place in which 11 new topics were raised and prioritized for future work activities within the WG. Some of the topics discussed were taken from the previous AMPI meetings in Dakar last month.

In administrative matters, the DFSWG elected Azizullah Sikandari from Da Afghanistan Bank as the new Co-Chair for the Working Group, taking over the position from Elias Vargas (SBS Peru).

DFSWG members will now leave the idyllic mountains of Dilijan and return to their home countries. Looking back on the week DSF Co-Chair, Elly Ohene noted, “The AFI working group meetings are always inspirational. Our week has brought us so many new views to consider and a few days is hardly enough to speak about everything. But we will continue to talk about these ideas over the coming months and I know we can look forward to a rich discussion at the AFI Global Policy Forum in Fiji.”

The DFS working group currently includes 60 members from 53 countries. It is the largest working group within the AFI network.