Peru’s Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Private Pension Fund Administrators (SBS) and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) will next week co-host a two-day meeting of experts in Lima as part of its Financial Inclusion Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC).

The 5th Meeting of the FILAC Experts Group on Financial Inclusion Policy (EGFIP) will be attended by 24 four participants from 12 countries to reflect on recent progress made by AFI members in the advancement of regional financial inclusion efforts as well as develop an agenda framework for the coming two years.

SBS Superintendent Socorro Heysen and AFI Deputy Executive Director Norbert Mumba will open the meetings on April 25, followed by introductions from the chair of EGFIP, Cristian Vega of Costa Rica’s General Superintendency of Financial Institutions (SUGEF).

Among the key deliverables expected will be the publication of an AFI report – developed with support from The Economist Intelligence Unit – on the digital financial services (DFS) ecosystem in six LAC countries: Brazil, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. The report will highlight the importance of national financial inclusion strategies in encouraging people into the formal financial system as well as the need for supporting infrastructure, such as robust and secure payment systems based on Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.

Other sessions will see participants discuss inclusive green finance, the LAC gender framework and the sex-disaggregated data gathering system in Costa Rica. The event will also see the election of FILAC’s second co-chair.

FILAC is one of five AFI regional initiatives, each of which has its own EGFIP that meets twice a year to discuss progress and set future targets. AFI’s four other regional initiatives are: African Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI), Eastern Europe & Central Asia Policy Initiative (ECAPI), Financial Inclusion Initiative for the Arab Region (FIARI) and Pacific Islands Regional Initiative (PIRI).

About SBS

SBS is a banking superintendency responsible for the regulation and supervision of the Peruvian financial system. Based in Lima, SBS advocates financial inclusion actions through five strategic pillars that includes promoting a prudent regulatory and supervisory framework, developing financial education initiatives and coordinating interactions with institutions to facilitate responsible financial inclusion processes.

About FILAC

FILAC is a regional initiative that aims to be the driving force for advancing financial inclusion in Latin American and Caribbean countries. It was launched in 2016 with support from Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC), and operates from AFI’s regional office in Bogotá, Colombia.

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