Kuala Lumpur, September 21, 2016 — Bank Negara Malaysia, the Central Bank, and the World Bank Group’s Global Knowledge & Research Hub in Malaysia are jointly conducting a Global Symposium on Innovative Financial Inclusion in Sasana Kijang, Kuala Lumpur on September 21 and 22, 2016.
The Global Symposium intends to highlight the latest innovations and technology applications that will improve access, use, and quality of financial services. Access to financial services plays an important role in reducing poverty and promoting shared prosperity – yet, globally, nearly 2 billion adults do not have access to a savings account or other basic financial services. Of those who do not have access, more than half or 1.1 billion people live in Asia. These innovations include peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding, electronic wallets, big data, new digital currencies, and new forms of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) finance. All these innovations will rapidly advance financial inclusion while maintaining financial stability and integrity.
The Global Symposium has attracted more than 400 high-level participants from Malaysia and 37 other countries, including policymakers and regulators as well as prominent private-sector representatives from financial institutions, telecommunication companies and Financial Technology (FinTech) companies. Speakers include financial-sector regulators from East Asia and the Pacific, World Bank Group financial-sector experts, senior executives of financial institutions, investors, researchers and leaders of FinTech companies that combine financial services with new technologies. Topics include key trends in digital financial inclusion, innovations in payment and remittance services, SME finance, crowdfunding and big data and related consumer-protection issues, policy challenges for financial-sector regulators and supervisors in managing the relevant risks of FinTech solutions.
“Financial inclusion is critical for lifting millions of people globally out of poverty; for helping small and medium enterprises invest, grow, and create jobs; and for families to be able to finance housing, cars, and other consumer goods. In the World Bank Group, we support our member countries in their commitment to broaden access to finance for the benefit of all people,” said Ulrich Zachau, the World Bank’s Country Director for Southeast Asia. “Through events such as this Global Symposium, Malaysia and the World Bank Group share cutting-edge global knowledge on key development issues among policymakers and practitioners around the world. I would like to thank Bank Negara for hosting our Global Knowledge and Research Hub here in Kuala Lumpur.”
