1.7 billion adults have never had a bank account, but 1.1 billion of them have a mobile phone.
Formal accounts and savings can help safeguard against unexpected events such as unemployment, accidents, illnesses and deaths. Loans can offer pathways to a better quality of life by helping to sustain and scale-up a small business or provide for a family with seasonal income.
The Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI) aims to create access to these opportunities for everyone, everywhere.
The FIGI Symposium 2021, 18 May to 24 June online, will bring together industry players and regulators to share perspectives on the status and future of digital financial inclusion.
The symposium’s programme organizes discussions by topics such as Fintech for inclusion, consumer protection, cybersecurity and trust, digital ID, gender equity, electronic payment acceptance, and experiences reaching underserved and vulnerable populations during the pandemic.
The symposium will also share insight into the achievements and ambitions of the FIGI community and invite your views on this community’s priorities beyond 2021.
Participation is free of charge and open to all. Register here.
Learn more about FIGI
FIGI is an open framework for collaboration led by ITU, the World Bank Group and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The initiative supports countries introducing policy reforms to stimulate financial inclusion and leads research to ensure that financial inclusion is built on trusted technical foundations.
The ‘operational’ work stream supports policy innovation in China, Egypt and Mexico, countries with significant potential to form case studies of value to other countries around the world. The ‘knowledge’ work stream, enacted by three working groups, advances research in three key areas of digital finance:
- The relationship between digital ID and financial inclusion
- Electronic payment acceptance by merchants and their customers
- Security and trust in digital financial services
Findings and reports of the knowledge work streams are available on the FIGI resources webpage.
FIGI symposia showcase national experiences in promoting financial inclusion and share the latest findings of FIGI’s three working groups. The upcoming FIGI symposium online follows 2017 and 2019 FIGI symposia in Bangalore, India, and Cairo, Egypt.
Source : From the Web