Throughout Financial Inclusion Week 2016, which served as a launching point for conversations across the globe, stakeholders explored the theme keeping clients first in a digital world. Our 45 partner organizations in 19 countries hosted roundtables, conferences, briefings, webinars, online conversations, and internal employee events, engaging more than 1,200 participants. Online, a vibrant conversation flourished under the hashtag #FinclusionWeek. The dozens of blog posts, hundreds of tweets and several webinars were in themselves illustrations of the power of digital technology to bring people together.
Financial Inclusion Week 2016 - By the Numbers
2
45 Financial Inclusion Week partners and contributing organizations
37 events
6 webinars
Over 300 participating organizations
Over 1200 participants in hosted conversations
Keeping Clients First in a Digital World
The Financial Inclusion Week Story
With the theme of keeping clients first in a digital world, the Financial Inclusion Week conversation demonstrated a breadth of topics and geographies – from the role of digital media in financial literacy in Nepal to the client protection risks associated with nano-loans in Rwanda. As we listened to the many conversations, two words showed up again and again. Throughout all of the perspectives shared, we observed that many stakeholders are looking to new digital channels to help them understand and engage clients.
Understand
Throughout the week, many conversations pointed to digital channels and data as key opportunities to keep clients first – and more specifically to better understand their needs. As people conduct more and more of their economic lives digitally and the capacity of data analytics programs grows, financial service providers, government, support organizations, and other stakeholders have more information than ever before on their customers. Many Financial Inclusion Week events assessed how this information can be better used to serve previously underserved customers.
Harvard Kennedy School’s Business and Government Professional Interest Council – Fintech Committee hosted a fireside chat with David Porteous to explore the role of fintech startups in financial inclusion. Porteous pointed to the great potential of fintech to amplify the customer voice. He stated that social media and other digital channels offer customers a greater ability to share their needs and voice grievances than is currently available from more traditional call centers.