Financial Inclusion for the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI)

Financial Inclusion for the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI)

Financial Inclusion for the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI) is a regional platform created amid growing demand from member institutions from the Arab Region for tailored solutions to regional financial inclusion issues. It was launched by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), German International Cooperation (GIZ), and AFI at the 2017 Global Policy Forum (GPF) and later joined by the World Bank as a technical partner.

The initiative aims to accelerate policies and actions that enhance access to financial services in the Arab region through effective coordination mechanisms and supporting the implementation of national financial inclusion policies. FIARI uses financial inclusion as a driving force for sustainable economic and social development, aligned with the range of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). It acts as a coordination platform that enables financial inclusion advocacy, capacity building, peer-learning, knowledge development and in-country technical implementation support among central banks and financial authorities in the region.

Greater access to and use of formal financial services in the Arab region would empower roughly 70 percent of adults, mostly women, and four out of five businesses, helping to bring them into the formal economy and boost sustainable development.

Achievements:

The Arab region has played a central role in advancing AFI’s vision of making financial services more accessible to the world’s unbanked. Some of the achievements by FIARI members include:

“FIARI will enable [AFI] to engage in the region, to learn from each other on important issues such as financial inclusion for forcibly displaced persons, women’s financial inclusion but also SME finance. These are important issues and regulators can make a difference” – AFI Executive Director Dr. Alfred Hannig.

“As we show the will to join forces under FIARI and foster knowledge, we reinforce our commitment to financial inclusion and thus to addressing some of the region’s most urgent challenges such as youth unemployment and women’s economic exclusion” – GIZ Head of Europe, Mediterranean and Central Asia Ute Klamert.

“FIARI is a key driver in promoting financial inclusion, translating the willingness of the Arab Monetary Fund to strengthen technical assistance and capacity development in support of member countries and their efforts in making financial services available to all Arab societies.” H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board, the Arab Monetary Fund.

22
member institutions (9 AFI members)
22
Countries (9 AFI members)
34
Policy changes (AFI members only)
74
Maya Declaration commitments (AFI members only)

LEADERS

Alliance for Financial Inclusion

Arab Monetary Fund

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

World Bank Group

  • Digital financial services
  • FinTech
  • MSMEs
  • Financial literacy
  • Youth
  • Women

 

  • Join efforts and build coordination, leverage on technical expertise, provide resources and practical experiences on policy formulation and implementation in financial inclusion from the partners, serve the needs of Arab countries and achieve inclusive economic and social development in the Arab countries
  • Help accelerate conducive policies and actions to enhance Arab societies’ access to financial services through an effective coordination mechanism, by supporting the implementation of national financial inclusion policies
  • Deliver financial inclusion support through peer-to-peer learning, capacity building, knowledge exchange, in-country implementation, and technical assistance support
  • Use financial inclusion as a driving force for sustainable economic and social development, aligned with the range of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)

 

FIARI is part of the AFI network and any AFI member institution in the Arab Region can participate in FIARI activities.

 

  • Autorité de Contrôle de la Microfinance de la République Tunisienne (Tunisia)
  • Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco)
  • Banque Centrale de Syrie (Syria)
  • Banque Centrale de Tunisie (Tunisia)
  • Central Bank of Egypt (Egypt)
  • Central Bank of Jordan (Jordan)
  • Central Bank of Yemen (Yemen)
  • Ministère des Finances de la République Tunisienne (Tunisia)
  • Palestine Monetary Authority (Palestine)

 

The Arab region has played a central role in advancing AFI’s vision of making financial services more accessible to the world’s unbanked. Some of the key milestones by FIARI members include:

September 2020 :

  • 6th COVID-19 recovery call on Policy & Innovations in NBFIs for A Post-Pandemic Recovery.
  • Session with SMEFWG on Global Developments in Alternative Finance for MSMEs.

November 2020 :

  • 7th Covid-19 recovery call on Islamic Finance & Micro-insurance for a Post-pandemic Recovery.
  • Session with Bank Negara Malaysia on Islamic Finance and Financial Inclusion in Times of COVID-19
  • Session with the Central Bank of Armenia on Climate Risk Micro-insurance for the Agriculture Sector
  • Workshop on Elaboration and Implementation of NFIS, held by AFI with participation of partners
  • AFI participated in the FITF meeting and present a session on Enhancing MSME Credit Worthiness: Role of Credit Infrastructure in the Middle East

April 2021 :

  • Elaboration and Implementation of NFIS in Iraq workshop held by AFI with FIARI partners having sessions.

 

© Alliance for Financial Inclusion 2009-2023