Policy Champion Program

AFI's membership is made up of outstanding policymakers and departments that have created substantial impact in increasing access to financial services for the unbanked. The Policy Champion Program is designed to help unlock their knowledge and expertise by providing them with the tools and resources they need to share their experiences with their peers.

Policy champions are individuals who serve as a spokesperson of a department or unit of an AFI member institution that is recognized for its outstanding work in financial inclusion policy.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)

Policy champion for mobile financial services

The team at CBK was instrumental in the creation of an enabling environment for mobile financial services to take root through a careful risk-based approach which initially allowed for the launch of the M-Pesa mobile money transfer service in 2007. CBK has continued to innovate its regulatory approach to help create conditions for the progressive expansion of mobile payments and financial services. As of December 2011, 50,740 agents were registered country wide to serve 19 million registered mobile clients. These mobile payment platforms have integrated with 13 financial institutions to render financial services to customers in a convenient, easy and cost effective manner. The financial services offered include M-Kesho, Pesa-Pap, KCB Connect, Faulu Popote and others aimed at integrating the mobile payment platform with the banking sector.

Stephen N. Mwaura, Head, National Payments Systems

Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) Mexico

Policy champion for financial inclusion measurement and data

To address the lack of quality supply and demand-side information on financial inclusion, CNBV designed a long term plan to measure and monitor financial access. They started by analyzing existing information to identify gaps, and subsequently created a database of existing supply side data and relevant social and demographic data for use by all stakeholders. The database will be enlarged with new demand-side data to be gathered using a multi-survey approach that will combine a large-scale national survey repeated at regular intervals with smaller, more targeted surveys.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

Policy champion for strategy & innovation and mobile financial services

BSP has prioritized financial inclusion and taken a leadership role in moving the financial inclusion agenda forward in the Philippines. To that end, BSP has organized itself internally for optimal implementation with initiatives spanning microsavings, consumer empowerment and literacy, data, and mobile financial services among many others. Notably, BSP created a regulatory framework for mobile money that has successfully enabled both bank-led and telcoled approaches to safely thrive in the marketplace.

Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr., Deputy Governor

State Bank of Pakistan

Policy champion on mobile financial services

State Bank of Pakistan's banking policy department aims to extend the outreach of financial services to un-banked/underserved areas of Pakistan by utilizing advances in ICT and extending access to technology. The department has been instrumental in developing a broader vision of increasing financial institutions outreach to the un-banked by issuing Branchless Banking Regulations for Financial Institutions in Pakistan that create the space for banks to reach out to this underserved sector. This initiative has so far resulted in five financial institutions offering branchless services through one-to-one and one-to-many models.

Syed Irfan Ali, Director, Banking Policy and Regulations

Bank Indonesia (BI)

Policy champion for strategy & innovation

Much of Indonesia’s unbanked population lacks the formal identification and financial track record needed to access formal financial services. BI has undertaken a project to assign individuals a “Financial Identification Number” which will allow many of the unbanked to leverage this unique identifier to assemble and track of their household cash flows and financial histories and eventually gain access to formal banking services.

Halim Alamsyah, Deputy Governor

Russian Microfinance Center (RMC)

Policy champion for agent banking

An independent resource center on microfinance and financial inclusion, RMC was established in July 2002 in response to the need for an organization that represents and advocates for the interests of the entire microfinance community. Having played an active role in the development of agent banking in Russia jointly with the Russian Ministry for Economic Development, an AFI member institution, the RMC provides an enabling environment for the growth of financial inclusion by offering training and professional consulting services to financial institutions, and promoting standards.

Mikhail Mamuta, President