“Youth Financial Inclusion through Policy & Technological Innovation”

12th Annual G-24/AFI Policymakers’ Roundtable at the International Monetary Fund & World Bank Group Spring Meetings is taking place on 15 April 2020, from 18:00 – 20:00, in the IMF Boardroom (IMF HQ1), Washington D.C., ahead of the 2020 Spring Meetings which are scheduled from 16-19  April 2020.

Held under the theme “Youth Financial Inclusion through Policy & Technological Innovation”, this year’s Roundtable has a specific focus on policy and technological innovations which have the greatest potential to advance financial inclusion for the youth population. 

More than 90% of the global youth population live in developing countries. Youth are less likely to have access to bank accounts than older adults, and only 15% have savings at a formal savings institute. Digital innovation can provide new channels for enhancing youth participation in financial services. Nevertheless, parallel efforts are needed to raise levels of financial capability and digital literacy to enable sustainable financial inclusion.

At the AFI Global Policy Forum (GPF) in September 2019, AFI members unanimously approved the Kigali Statement, committing to harness the capacity of the youth, and other disadvantaged groups, to drive inclusive growth. The Kigali Statement builds on the 2018 Sochi Accord, through which the AFI network strengthened its determination to leverage digital financial services and FinTech for financial inclusion.

This Leaders’ Roundtable at the Spring Meetings will expose a provisional policy framework for youth financial inclusion and facilitate the sharing of G-24 and AFI members experiences’ of realizing technology’s potential to overcome the barriers to youth financial inclusion.

See last year’s Leader’s Roundtable: