"We have to think and act strategically if we want to expand access to financial services globally. While this is starting to happen do we already have a movement? Do we have a roadmap to guide stakeholders? I understand this resource is here at the Global Forum. That resource is the Roadmap to Financial Inclusion." – Cherie Blair
Reflections on the Roundtables
Fourteen roundtables met simultaneously to consider how to move the Roadmap to Financial Inclusion to action. Here are a few big themes that emerged from the wide-ranging discussions.
1. What works? We need evidence! Many of the roundtables dreamed of a clearinghouse of case studies, research, country examples, and other evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches to technology, financial capability, and client protection including a platform for governments and providers to share and disseminate their experiences.
2. We want metrics. Are our services customer-centric? Do we have effective client protection practices? Do we track complaints? Do we know who is opting in to our services and who isn't? And are we getting the data into the hands of people who can use it to make services better?
3. Who’s at the table? The drivers of financial inclusion within governments are not just bank regulators, but telecommunications, insurance, and utility regulators, and often, ministries of finance, agriculture, social welfare, or education.
4. We need to talk. These various stakeholders need to coordinate or at least share experiences if we are to achieve full financial inclusion. One approach is a multi-stakeholder Financial Inclusion Task Force within the national government or between government and the private sector.
5. It’s not just regulators. Industry leadership is essential for moving forward innovations in technology, for integrating financial capability and consumer protection into services, for adopting credit reporting for the base of the pyramid, and, above all, for meeting customer needs.
6. We need to find our balance. That includes knowing when to let the market take its course and when to regulate. It also includes balancing access and protection. For example, how do we use client data analytics as an on-ramp for thin file customers while protecting their privacy? And how do we promote access to credit without over-indebtedness?
7. Don’t let innovations lead to inadvertent exclusion. There is a danger of innovations leading to a new class of excluded customers. For example, a person with a disability may become even more excluded if mobile money services are not accessible.
8. We need to figure out the business models. This is an issue for every major “opportunity” to advance inclusion and reach new, harder to reach customers. Many feel the business case is already there for companies that take the long view, but we need to articulate this and have much to learn.
9. It’s easy to say but hard to do. Many of the Roadmap principles are common sense and most have widespread agreement—but they are not happening. Some of the solution is to align incentives by governments, investors, and donors with the Roadmap principles.
10. It all comes down to customers. The single most significant driver of financial inclusion is meeting customer needs. That includes expanding our market to include new customers.
In her keynote speech, Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, stressed the importance of thinking ambitiously on financial inclusion: “Now is the time that is ripe for us to take this idea and really make it happen, not just in little pockets, but at scale.” Technology is decreasing costs, increased investment in previously underserved areas is supporting innovation, and policymakers are promoting regulatory action. To make financial inclusion a reality though, Mrs. Blair stressed the importance of understanding low-income consumers. “They know best what they need. We have to make sure that we develop products that fit the needs and aspirations of low income people.”
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Roadmap to Inclusion
Cherie Blair Stresses Putting Roadmap Principles into Action