Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has been appointed as the Chair of the South Asia Region Financial Inclusion Initiative (SARFII) at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum.
Eight South Asian financial regulators launched SARFII to accelerate financial inclusion, during the AFI Global Policy Forum, the world’s largest financial inclusion gathering, held in Jordan. MMA is the first Chair of SARFII and Nepal Rastra Bank is the Vice Chair for the term 2022-2024.
Speaking at the AFI Global Policy Forum, Governor of MMA Ali Hashim highlighted the work to be conducted to increase financial inclusion in the South Asian region. He also highlighted the need for South Asian countries to work together to formulate policies and reach milestones.
SARFII aims to boost peer learning, knowledge exchange, information sharing, and regional cooperation among its eight members. AFI’s regional initiatives enhance the network’s ability to support its members working on specific regional priorities, share regional knowledge and translate global financial inclusion issues into practical implementation at the regional and national levels.
At the forum, AFI’s South Asian members identified six key priorities: digital financial services, financing of micro, small and medium (MSME) enterprises, reducing the gender gap in access to finance, inclusive green finance, financial inclusion data, and consumer protection and financial education and literacy.
AFI stated that South Asian members have made important strides over the past decade in accelerating financial inclusion, providing access to finance to over 40% of the region’s population in 2021, up from 23% in 2011. The organisation stated over 150 million people do not have access to finance although the region has been the cradle of innovation, that the gender gap continues to be higher than the global average, and effects of climate change have been adverse.
The South Asian members aim to seize the opportunities amidst these challenges and are taking action through a wide range of policies to accelerate financial inclusion for all and eliminate inequity by addressing the local and unique challenges in the region.