During their November 2010 Summit in Seoul, Republic of Korea, G-20 Leaders called on “international relevant Standard-Setting Bodies to consider how they can further contribute to encouraging financial inclusion, consistent with their mandates.” Since then, concrete steps have been taken to propel focused engagement with the Standard-Setting Bodies (SSBs) on financial inclusion. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, convened gatherings of SSBs to catalyze dialogue on issues specific to the mandates of each SSB and engagement with emerging and developing countries. The Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) has led further engagement with the SSBs on financial inclusion to harness the influence of the G-20 to help ensure the global regulatory environment supports national policymakers to promote innovative financial inclusion. All SSBs have launched specific initiatives to review the role of financial inclusion within their respective mandates. There is common recognition of the diversity of financial inclusion services, products and their providers, as well as the possible adverse impact on financial inclusion if detailed standards are prescribed. SSBs have advocated a risk-based approach, or proportionality, in applying international standards to financial inclusion commensurate to their risks. Despite this sensible approach, there is the continuing challenge for developing and emerging economies to achieve a pragmatic balance between traditional safety soundness and financial integrity mandates, and making the financial system more relevant and responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens through greater financial inclusion. To meet this challenge, a G-24-AFI High-Level Roundtable was held to promote dialogue among policymakers and to consider the role of AFI members and the SSBs in meeting financial inclusion objectives. This publication details the highlights and conclusions of the roundtable discussion.

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