AFI and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) welcomed more than 40 participants from 31 member countries to AFI headquarters at the Sasana Kijang in Kuala Lumpur on 8-12 June 2015 to take part in the Business Conduct and Consumer Protection Capacity Building Program. The event was the first of three capacity building programs, held with support from the Frankfurt School, to be offered this year, and convened middle to senior level officials involved in the development, implementation and enforcement of consumer protection, market conduct and financial education policies.

In structuring the training, the methodology adopted was a blend of lectures, group discussions and case studies, drawing from the international and Malaysian experiences. In addition, participants were encouraged to share their own experiences during the program.

The five-day training covered topics on the latest developments in:

• Consumer empowerment and market conduct regulation and supervision;
• Emerging consumer risk in digital finance;
• Practices on market conduct and consumer protection for financial institutions;
• Consumer empowerment through financial literacy and financial capability initiatives;
• Market conduct regulation and supervision of non-bank institutions;
• Innovations in financial literacy and consumer empowerment;
• Product transparency and disclosure;
• Institutional arrangements and supervisory tools on market conduct regulation and supervision;
• Collaboration with public and private institutions on financial education practices, redress mechanisms and alternative dispute resolution approaches;
• Consumer protection regulation for microfinance institutions and global initiatives to address household indebtedness.

Resource specialists who provided training included experts from the Bank of Tanzania (BOT), Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), the Financial Services Board South Africa, Consumers International, Financial Services Consumer Panel United Kingdom, ACCION, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, World Bank, MicroSave and AFI.

At the end of the program, participants put together action plans on market conduct and consumer protection initiatives for their countries by translating the learnings into actions. They were able to describe the importance of upholding business conduct and consumer empowerment to sustain market confidence that supports the objectives of financial stability and inclusion. In addition, participants were also able to identify the necessary institution arrangement to ensure robust consumer protection and empowerment regime and the key measures and strategies to enhance the culture of fair and responsible dealings by financial service providers (FSPs).