AFI members in Nairobi for digital financial services training

AFI in collaboration with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) conducted intermediate level member training in Nairobi on 18-20 July 2016. It is the second of a series of three events have been planned for the year. More than 40 regulators from 16 countries participated in the training.

The participating AFI members, represented countries that were in the early stages of the journey to establish a conducive regulatory environment to support a robust financial services delivery channel using digital platforms. The objective was to draw from the experience of industry leaders as Kenya and also learn from external technical partners of AFI.

Deputy Governor, CBK, Sheila M’Mbijjewe gave the opening remarks and highlighted the phenomenal achievement of the country in financial inclusion. Kenya has over 25.4 million mobile money transfer accounts transacting KSH 7.8 billion daily undertaking over 3 million transactions per day using the mobile money transfer platform. An average of USD 2.35 billion per month are transacted through this platform with over 150,000 agent network. This has helped increase financial inclusion from 26 per cent in 2006 to 75 per cent in 2016, which is over the target that it had set.

As part of the training, AFI members from Kenya, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Peru, and Ghana shared experiences from their own countries, while external technical partners from JM Mantle & Co. Limited, MicroSave and GSMA were on hand to provide other insights. The training also included a field visit which was was led by Kenya Commercial Bank and Safaricom.

Some of the highlights from the participant’s discussion included:

• Agreement that competition was good for the consumers as it helps make the products more customer oriented and robust, but with a caveat that issues around interoperability remain a challenge in a competitive environment.

• Acknowledgement that digital financial services brings together multiple players from diver sectors, who all have varied interests each of which must be recognized and understood.

• A continuing debate around innovation or regulation leading DFS development with an agreement that, whether leading or not, regulation should not stifle innovation.

• Agreement on the importance of sharing knowledge, but an understanding that demographics of every country are different and models, products, and delivery channels must be researched and developed to meet local needs.

• Discussion on the benefits of using multiple models for the delivery of digital financial services, as a way to make the optional use to resources and to ensure a wider reach. Participants agreed on the importance of examining the pros and cons of all models and being open to considering implementing more than just one where appropriate.

AFI members will next be discussing trends and innovations in DFS at the 2016 Global Policy Forum during which the Network’s DFS Working Group will be meeting.