The AFI Steering Committee held its first meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 10. At the meeting, members expressed strong support for AFI’s long-term vision to become an independent organization run and owned by policymaking institutions in developing countries. They decided that the Committee should be called the “Steering Committee” and proposed a two-tier membership structure for the AFI network. The draft AFI by-laws were reviewed by the members and will be finalized at the second meeting of the Steering Committee.

Members pointed out the need for AFI to interact closely with standard setters and to engage policymakers from countries who are not yet AFI members. They welcomed the establishment of the AFI Donor Coordination Mechanism and suggested a two-way information exchange between the Steering Committee and donors.

Members also requested that AFI undertake a stocktaking on existing financial inclusion survey projects, methodologies and concepts, and expressed their interest in launching an AFI flagship project on using survey data to design financial inclusion policies. Current data and survey projects will be presented at the upcoming Nairobi event.

The members of the Steering Committee will be rotated over time. Existing members have been chosen because of their track records of innovation in financial inclusion and to ensure a regional balance within the Committee. Members of the Committee are:

• Tarisa Wantanagase, Governor of Bank of Thailand,
• Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Philippines,
• Njuguna S. Ndung’u, Governor of Central Bank of Kenya,
• Guillermo Babatz, President of National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico
• Alfred Hannig, Executive Director of AFI, and
• Christoph Beier, Director General, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Caribbean, GTZ