 What kind of world do I want to live in? I think about this question a lot. For our generation and for specifically my group of people, which is refugees, the circumstances might dismantle any vision of the future that we have. You're trying to rebuild, you're trying to make a future for yourself and then the climate-related disaster comes and you start again. It's not about how it's affecting you now, it's about how it's affecting you your entire life. The first step to understand is that we're all a part of it. None of us are going to be left out by the crisis. We're at a stage where if we don't act now, there won't be very much left. There are generations that will never see certain things that we grew up seeing in real life. We have to start treating this like the emergency it is to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals. We have to go from an intention to a serious commitment. Business leaders really need to rethink how they conduct their business and invest in creating systems that are climate friendly. The action I would like to see is accountability. Structures being put in place where countries aren't just asked to do something but they're kept accountable to the decisions that they make. There has to be that strong collaboration between government, between corporations, between youth activists to drive change forward. The world I would want to live in, it's a world where imagining the future is not a privilege. I want to live in a world where people do not give up on hope. Hope that a positive change is possible. The fact that you're listening today means that you are willing to make a change. Welcome everyone to the session Driving Global Financial Inclusion. Thank you for joining us. My name is Eric Parral. I am the Chief Economist and General Manager of the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. And in that role, there are many things that I'm obsessed with. And one of them is financial inclusion. So I'm glad that the World Economic Forum is taking financial inclusion seriously. And this panel, a fantastic panel, is a good example of that. Of course, financial inclusion is a broad issue, and many subtopics should be considered. Financial inclusion involves the needs of individuals, for example, through access to affordable quality financial products and services that lead to financial well-being. Businesses with their access to capital and adequate digital infrastructure to support growth and the broader financial sector. For example, with access to equity for smaller businesses and access to local and international capital markets for larger companies. But we only have 25 minutes, so this session aims to discuss public-private and private-private partnerships that drive financial inclusion for individuals and small businesses, given the digital acceleration brought on by the pandemic. And I have to say that the COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call to change the course of action of our societies and has particularly shown us the importance of having inclusive financial systems that can create resilience among households and quickly provide the boost to grow and create jobs during the recovery. In turn, important opportunities have stemmed from this crisis, including the adoption of digital payments and access to financial services through online banking or fintech services. So we need to take advantage of this big push to bring high-financial products to our most vulnerable citizens and businesses. There is no doubt that global access to financial services has increased substantially in recent decades, but still one third of the global population over 15 years old remain unbanked. In other words, there are 1.7 billion people who are not part of the financial systems around the world, most of them live in developing and emerging markets. And moreover, important gaps are observed between different social groups, especially women and the poorest. This situation hinders progress on economic growth and development. We cannot allow this to happen. It's unfair to people and a bad business for governments and the private sector. In this context, the Inter-American Development Bank under its new development strategy, Vision 2025, is currently designing an initiative to further contribute to fulfill these objectives and to position Latin America and the Korean as a global leader in the promotion of more inclusive financial systems. This financial inclusion initiative will serve as a key tool to assess gaps and propose policy actions to accelerate the access and use of modern financial services to all citizens in our region. But of course, we cannot do it alone. Nobody can do it alone in any region of the world. We need all types of partnerships to make it happen. And to help us with this matters, I am so glad to introduce our panel and we have with us today Rania Almashat. She's the Minister of International Cooperation of Egypt and previously she was the Minister of Tourism of Egypt. She also held high-level positions at the Central Bank of Egypt and the International Monetary Fund where I had the opportunity to meet her some time ago. We also have Fahin Haliboy. She's the head of the JPMorgan Development Finance Institution launched in January 2020 to spur investment support in economic development in emerging markets. Prior to JPMorgan, she spent 18 years at the International Finance Corporation where she was responsible for setting a strategy, business development, transaction execution and portfolio management. Last but not least, we have Calvin Choi. He's the chairman of AMTD Group and founder of AMTD Charity Foundation. He's a globally recognized entrepreneur and philanthropist as well as a pioneer and contributor in promoting regional digitalization. What a great panel. And also, we have a great audience. So for all the people who are joining the session, remember you can be part of this. You can send your questions to the panel through a slide. A final housekeeping message, the panel discussion will be on the record and made available within 24 hours to an online audience. Okay, so let's start with the first question to our panelists. So let's start with Rania. Considering the digital improvements made during the pandemic, where have you seen the greatest progress towards financial inclusion and development of capital markets over the last two years? And more importantly, what are the largest barriers remaining? Rania, please go ahead. Thank you, Eric. And I'm very pleased to join everyone and hopefully we do this conference physically next year in New York. Of course, COVID was a huge shock. Nonetheless, there was some silver lining and because education services, because e-commerce was so important, health services were very needed, many people looked to find how they can secure financial ability to pay their bills. This was very useful because it also allowed, if you talked about fintech, there were many startups that used the digital space to provide financial services to be able to include more people. This is something that we saw very vividly within this ecosystem of startups, fintech and innovative ways to be able for citizens to pay for their education services, to pay for their shopping, to pay for their health. Moreover, businesses on the other hand, also because there's the supply and the demand, so there was some compensation for the decline in the physical transactions because there was this ability to do it digitally. Nonetheless, as you mentioned, we have around 2.5 billion working adults that are not yet within the financial or bankable world. This requires more regulatory openness from countries or governments. It also calls for more public-private partnerships and I think this is something that we are going to dwell on during the discussion. Thank you very much, Ryan, for setting up the discussion regarding progress and also the barriers that we have. So probably we can go to Calvin and do you have the same impression, Calvin, regarding the progress that we have made during the last two years or there are so many barriers that we need to tackle? Absolutely. I think for the past two years because of the COVID, I think the whole world have been seeing acceleration in digitalization but not only because of the disruption but for the good of the society, making everything more virtual, making everything more seamlessly, I think, to connect with each other. So I think the way that we see it is not just from a single need or single approach but it's something that we will need the whole world to connect through with each other in a combined approach, a partnership approach or through what we call the broader-based world ecosystem to connect through and to make it into some positiveness, I think, to our society. I think through that, I think we see that it's really about how we connect with each other from private to public sector in terms of how we connect through with other people but most importantly how we get ourselves ready for the next digital age. Because the world, of course, right now is migrating and moving in a very fast way. So I think, you know, from AMTD's side we have been focusing a lot into not only seeing ourselves as a connector but more importantly to connect with people. So we focus a lot in terms of how we support and cultivating the young talents for their readiness for the digital world. I think that is the most important that we actually get ready the talents for tomorrow. So I think through that, I think it's really about a single region approach but now that we are looking for the whole of the Asian region I think through our working together with the Hong Kong government, with the Singapore government for every year, you know, the Fintech annual championship, the festival bring together all the community but now that virtually into more starting off a hybrid session so getting more of the gathering of the community at the same time I think providing more support through for the young talents of the community. So that, you know, one thing, you know we have been doing during COVID we partnered with the Singapore Monetary Authority Singapore side to roll out what we call the AMTD Solidarity Scheme. So that through grand scheme and also investment scheme we have been helping over 100 Fintech companies across Southeast Asia. So over that I think we see that the approach over, you know, broader based regional approach to seeing, you know, how we can support the society will be very important. Very kind of me, but you have told me all the progress that you have made and all your initiative but what about the restrictions the barriers, the obstacles that you may face? I think obstacles are many because the way that, you know ultimately as when I talk about the partnership between from private to public, from company to company institution to institution, you know in previously, you know, it's all in person now that, you know, from a completely you know, in person approach like previously, you know, I will fly to at least two countries every week or maybe sometimes even even three countries, but now that, you know we have not been I'm sure everyone we are only situated in one place but then, you know, I think without a human touch how we can actually plate it I think to the same level of in-depthness how we can actually drive things through to the maximum I think we are all adapting I think, you know, so into the new approach I think that's number one I mean, number two is really about how we can get, you know, the people you know, the society to embrace I think the differential channels of things you know, to help them through as previously, I think, you know, they are more you know, adapting to the ways that, you know they see, they touch, they feel but now that there are many different channels of communication or enabling or empowerment through the internet or through different ways that we can connect with the world with just a click so this is now the way that we can help, you know, the different society layers for them to upscale for them to adapt to the new environment and for them to become more ready for the next challenge and the next opportunity Thank you Calvin for that and now we're going to talk a little bit with Fahin about development of capital markets and what are the progress that you have seen during the last two years and also what are the largest barriers that you may face in the future So Fahin Thank you so much, Eric I mean, just to echo a little bit I think that not only has Covid enhanced contactless payments and online but what it's really done is driven trust and acceptance in these payments and I think this is really important in a society and the new business formation has not only been in technology driven services but even things such as domestic tourism I'm sure all of us have seen a lot more of our own countries than we have anticipated and also it's really made us realize the importance of supply chains where things are produced where they need to go how we're connected with others in the economy So I think that's kind of another part of Covid that we've had to keep in mind both at the level of individuals as well as larger companies, smaller companies and the capital markets that you were asking about I think what's interesting is that in this past couple of years such as remittances have actually remained relatively strong in many countries and so there's been cash coming in and that international capital markets have stayed open we have seen that even in smaller emerging markets certain and there's in the larger companies have been able to tap international markets and that shows that we can stay connected, that there is trust that we can do diligence online that we can make sure that companies have access to money to make sure that these global supply chains that I was talking about stay connected and that we can all supply each other. I think we're so reliant in the financial ecosystem globally and the trade ecosystem globally is so connected On the side of the obstacles and I think you've asked on that is that I feel that still before moving back to the US I was living in West Africa and covering countries there and you see a lot of adoption as I said of digital payments however it's still very debit based if I may right so it's people who have cash that then just pay it down or transfer it to other people I think something that remains lacking is a lack of a credit history and so people are not able to actually access credit because they're just moving money around and that's not a bad thing but I think we need to go to the next level where people and businesses develop a credit history so that they can really borrow I think a second obstacle is that we need to equip businesses with financial capabilities right how do they report taxes how do they file accounting statements how do they really become part of the financial system and become formal companies which also governments rarely want and the last obstacle I would say is that we need to really help bolster especially in emerging markets an equity ecosystem right so a lot of small companies don't rely just on that to grow they rely on angel founders friends families and then a whole equity system that can help take them to the next level they don't are not producing the cash needed to pay back regular loan payments and so we need and I think this is a good way to maybe add a little bit of information to the public private partnerships what what systems and public policy can be put in place to make sure that small businesses are having access to equity as well as that to grow thank you for hitting an important point that you raise is about trust so considering the complexity of remaining inclusion challenges where might public private and private collaboration coming to play in terms of reaching full inclusion for Ryan Rania back to you yes you know where are we are nine and a half years from the 2030 goalpost that all countries and development partners and stakeholders are looking towards and financial inclusion actually cuts across seven of the 17 SDGs and therefore if we are to accelerate the different fulfillment of the goals it really requires everyone comes together so if we're talking about the government it's a regulation and it's the you know creating the environment if we're talking about you know and that includes of course you know the consumer protection the collateral that was mentioned also what are we doing you mentioned that one of the most vulnerable groups who are unbanked are women and this has you know they come under more pressure during COVID so what are the policies that are taken to actually make that part easier and then of course today with the different companies having ESG at their core and it's you know purpose not just profit there is that catalyst if you will to push for more public-private partnerships in the field of financial inclusion of course we have already successful examples we have for example the Rubble Bank we have you know different initiatives taken by MasterCard and so forth the World Economic Forum has also CEO partnerships for financial inclusion so there are several initiatives that are tackling the policy dimension and trying also to scale up successful examples that could be done from one country to the other so I believe that you know in addition to what happens for each economy in terms of positives when it comes to financial inclusion if you add all that up we are all pushing towards the global goals by 2030 so these are just some pointers I can you know talk about what we've been doing in Egypt with respect to you know pushing for financial inclusion for women under a national strategy there's also regulations that the Central Bank has recently introduced to to facilitate mobile payments and boost the share of customers actively using e-wallets this was not the case a few years ago so you know the ability again improving the landscape for the startups which is a very important element in this but as Fahimz mentioned the word trust so we are coming now from a higher base in the past people may have been worried that you know using the the e-wallets or going mobile today because they've tried it in a very difficult experiment which was the pandemic I think the door is open to be able to see more gains from the private public partnerships perfect and we're coming back to the specific lessons that you can tell us regarding the changes and initiatives that you are dealing with so in terms of building public private and private private collaborations so what is your take Khalid about the ecosystem that you mentioned all the time to push forward financial inclusion I think the way that we see the particular challenges are really for the different ecosystem partners to how they make good use of the connectivity how they you know when we talk about the trust element but also in terms of you know how they see you know the the connection through with each other would help with their businesses so I think you know everyone you know when they you know act to embrace to react they need some incentive so other incentive through you know ways that you know as a grant as a money token or as a way that from the government side working alongside the private side that could provide more support I think for their businesses I think of course you know different countries have been doing a lot in terms of certain support and grants you know for example for the wages you know for employees but at the same time I think there are more specific elements I think all interlinked you know with the way that you know there are the barrier or the way that for people to come you know step over to entirely embrace your channels so if the trust element actually interlinked with the cyber security aspect so it is something that you know also interlinked them with the knowledge aspect you know whether this is something of a trustworthy what is something that you know for the cyber security way is very safe and intact but versus whether you have the enough knowledge to understand through the system architecture to entirely trust and use the different channels I think that I still see it as from knowledge education up skill onward then to the advancement of different fintech verticals subvertical so there are of course many subverticals among the different fintech areas and the world or the universe are enormous so we've been actually trying to call for more attention I think for the community that we set up two things I think over the past 12 months one is that we set up a green center of excellence that we want to promote and research more into the green topic into how that we share the way that we as a function institution or into cross sectors as we develop our businesses how we can support more of the environment and put more awareness towards climate change how in each of our individual action the organization behavior could bring more positiveness to the world future and I think that is also something that we also putting into more effort specifically into some fintech subvertical like cyber so cyber security we also set up a cyber security academy or we call it also cyber security of excellence that we work alongside with academia with university with training institute with the governmental side that again we're promoting more of a training program for the general public so that they are more aware of the relevant topic so that they feel more not only ready but then they embrace more in terms of what they can understand through the technicality or the complexity so that they can have more comfort to make good use of the different newer channels for the new world and secondly I think it's really about how we actually bringing the whole solidarity or the unity of the world that everyone go to the part or become at the same level so that we are all more efficient in terms of what we can do out of our own capacity and for the organization that's great Kevin because I think education, financial literacy is key for financial inclusion at the same time so but Fahin do we have the right incentives to build these partnerships what is your take on that I think that there's definitely the right incentives because I think I'll take it from the level of government and then from the private sector I think from the level of the government they want to have more people access they want to be able to track payments where money goes, how money is being spent and obviously to give people access to the ways to create their own jobs and if they have access to credit and financial inclusion that happens so I think that's at the level of the government they also want to make sure that people are included in the formal sector so that there's taxation etc and I think from the government side what really needs to be done is to set up credible institutions institutions that people can believe in equivalent of like the small business administration in the US that is kind of long-term, durable I think certain countries have set up for example SME banks but they have been either small or political in nature and so a credible institution maybe taken outside the government and run professionally as a quasi-institution maybe in partnership with the private sector could be a solution another solution that could come into play here where I think the government will also really benefit is to provide technical advice so it's not just setting up banks that could cater to SMEs or to individuals it's how do small businesses set up legal and accounting systems, how do they create financial systems and tax reporting and this kind of keeps the entire economy going which is beneficial both to the businesses because they need that kind of support and advice often entrepreneurs are just kind of creating running their business and not as good at those other things and this is beneficial to the government because this obviously keeps the wheels of the economy turning and then I think to mention a little bit of what Calvin was saying is that it's also in the interest of the private sector if they want to spur innovation in a certain sector for example I've seen banks set up incubators or labs within to help young entrepreneurs come up with better payment systems the ways that young people or certain types of sectors would transfer money to each other so it's in the incentive of certain businesses to also encourage collaboration and have entrepreneurs build side businesses that they can benefit from so I think there's a whole set of benefits from inclusion and incentives from both sides to push in the right direction thank you Fajim and now taking the discussion about regional perspective so probably Rania you can tell us something about what are the efforts that Egypt is doing because there's always this tension between innovation and regulation and you were part of the government so what are the lessons that you want to share with the audience no I think that the biggest lesson is you always have to be prepared for shocks right and that requires that your investment in digital infrastructure should be ongoing and up to speed ahead of the curve if you will and for example in our case we have a big population if we had not done reforms in the education sector we would not have been able to host these many students online during the pandemic so that's the biggest lesson reform is a continuous process and you have to always be preemptive in terms of also the education and the literacy and being able to provide the technical assistance for whether it's the SMEs or for citizens in our case as Minister of International Cooperation I'm responsible for the relationship with the different national development banks and the IFIs so we have very targeted programs that the government initiates with the IFC, with the EBRD with UN agencies to be able to go to the very remote areas make sure that this type of understanding and education is there when we talk about in the region in the Arab world there is also with the Arab League and there's also the Council of Arab Central Bank Governors Arab Monetary Fund all of them have again a financial inclusion task force which tries to streamline also many of the different I don't want to say regulations but you know the pointers or the underpinnings of trying to move this forward and again the biggest I just won't go back to the gender issue because they are the most unbanked in the region and I believe that you know designing again special programs for women pushing them in terms of SMEs and micro lending this is something that we have also been trying to do so you know it's again many of these topics that may have seemed like you know just for talks during conferences have become so practical and operational and everybody has helped them government's private sector with the different sizes and citizens you know regardless of what the income brackets are and so forth you are now knocking on an open door because everyone has actually experienced some of both the shortcomings as well as the benefits of moving forward with financial inclusion Thank you very much Rania and we have only one minute for some final comments so Calvin probably you can tell us something about the AFIN initiative with IFC and MAS Absolutely I think the private public sector approach of supporting financial inclusion we have a prime example I think it's you know our partnership together with the Monetary Authority Singapore IFC and the ASEAN Banking Association that we created this connectivity hub for all the FinTech companies to get on board and to provide more user case for them to support enable and work with the midsize and growing banks or digital banks I think in the region so I think this you know level of connectivity through a defined hub I think alongside coordinated efforts from private public to association type or including even academia with lots of practicality in terms of how we provide opportunities will be something as a good example to share Thank you Calvin Fahin a final thought Maybe everyone's talked about high tech but I want to give an example from when I was in West Africa of something that can be very very impactful which is in agriculture just to be able to give farmers credit for storing their agricultural goods right so this is kind of pre-product credit using the agricultural product as collateral and obviously now I think we've moved to digitizing this as well so I think that this can be applicable both in much higher tech middle income countries as well as kind of the lower income countries that access to finance is not only economy wide but can be also looked at from a sector lens that's what I wanted to mention and to say we make one sector more efficient including the basic sectors that we all need to use every day be it agriculture manufacturing and things of that nature Thank you very much Fahin and thank you very much Rania and Calvin for this open and candid discussion about the present global issue we learn a lot from each of you, thank you very much