BNM-AFI Member Training: Financial Inclusion Strategy and Data,
Monday, 30 July 2018
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Remarks by Norbert Mumba, Deputy Executive Director, AFI

Ms. Kristina Rai, Director, Human Capital Development Centre, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM),

Mr. Sachin Bansal, Lead Consultant for this event,

Participants from AFI member institutions,

Colleagues from BNM and AFI,

Welcome to the BNM-AFI Member Training on Financial Inclusion Strategy and Data.  This is one of the trainings which has been running for the longest time and we are not surprised by the high response we get for this training every time! We have yet again in this room, 34 participants representing 33 institutions from 31 countries, and more than we could not accommodate. The participants in this training represent institutions from across all these various stages of NFIS development and implementation, which makes it ideal for AFI’s peer learning model.

Our sincere appreciation to Bank Negara Malaysia for partnering with AFI to offer this very important training as it forms the core of our efforts on developing inclusive financial systems in our jurisdictions.

Why do we continue to run this training on national financial inclusion strategy or NFIS and data and why does it continue to attract such great response?

National financial inclusion strategy is a great tool to ensure that there is a defined way of enhancing financial inclusion and that the progress is measured. It also ensures that the effort is comprehensive and includes all relevant stakeholders. Having a documented NFIS is a key step in ensuring that financial inclusion targets are achieved.

AFI network currently has 106 member institutions from 91 countries. 47 countries already have a documented NFIS and 21 are in some stage of development of an NFIS.  These institutions have made 40 Maya Declaration Commitments on some aspect of development and implementation of NFIS. Thus, with about 75% of the countries of the network being involved with their NFIS, the demand for this training is not surprising. And given the critical importance of having an NFIS, it is only imperative that AFI continues to build capacities on topic. As the Sun Tuz the famous Chinese strategist put it “ strategy without tactic is the slowest route to victory and tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Therefore as another strategist put it “in life, as in football , you won’t go far unless you know where the goal posts are.”

AFI works in six policy areas which are led by six Working Groups. The Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group or FISPLG serves as a platform that promotes and facilitates the development and implementation of national financial inclusion strategies among AFI members.  The group provides practical support to members of the AFI network who are determined to take a systematic approach to address financial inclusion in their countries. FISPLG developed a National Financial Inclusion Strategies Toolkit specifically for policymakers and regulators. This training uses the toolkit as a base document to guide us through a very planned way of development and implementation of national strategies.

Financial Inclusion Data is another of the six policy areas that AFI works on. It is led by the Financial Inclusion Data Working Group or FIDWG which is dedicated to developing common framework among its members for measuring financial inclusion and sharing lessons learned regarding target setting, survey methodology, analysis and the usage of data to inform policymaking, and more. Trainings such as these then help us promote the adoption of the framework within the AFI network.

Though these are two distinct policy areas, they are closely linked, and this interdependence is the highlight of the training this year. Rather than treating strategy and data as two separate policy areas, we have redesigned this training to emphasise the importance of data at every stage of NFIS whether it is pre-formulation, formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of national financial inclusion strategies. In the words of Sir Winston Churchill “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”.

While we discuss financial inclusion strategy and financial inclusion data, we will also discuss some of the new policy areas and issues that our members are working on: climate change and financial inclusion, regulations to support forcibly displaced people, promoting inclusive insurance, exploring FinTechs. And as with all AFI events, we will have a special focus on gender and financial inclusion – both from the perspective of strategy and sex-disaggregated data. And of course, pull all this together to discuss how they contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Understanding the need for a holistic approach to financial inclusion and economic growth and an all-inclusive model of comprehensive coordination should be a key takeaway from this training.

Capacity building of the network has always been of significance and thanks to the overwhelming response of the network, it is now a key pillar of AFI’s corporate plan for 2019-2023. This year AFI celebrates it’s 10 years of existence. In this decade, the network has collectively made over 260 policy changes. While we will continue to deliver the existing services to AFI members, going forward we aim to have a bigger role in in-country implementation of these policy changes. As we gradually set up our regional offices and expand our regional initiatives, AFI will have enhanced presence in your jurisdictions which will help us bring to you more customised regional capacity building initiatives. Last year we launched our first online training: Certified Expert in Financial Inclusion Policy or CEFI, in partnership with Frankfurt School of Management and hoping that more will come. So exciting times ahead for us as we learn and grow together.

We look forward to your active participation and contribution to this training. Your feedback is invaluable to us, please share your thoughts with our team who will be with you through the week. Thank you once again for joining us, and I wish you a productive week ahead. Enjoy your stay in Malaysia, hope you have time to explore the country and this beautiful training centre provided by Bank Negara.

Thanks once again to the BNM team for all their support and also wish to take this opportunity to thank the facilitator, speakers and my colleagues at AFI for facilitating this training.