Arab region successes in bringing people into the financial system have been highlighted by AFI Executive Director Alfred Hannig during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco. 

Speaking at an IMF Seminar on October 14th, Dr Hannig said that despite facing a number of challenges, such as a persistent gender gap, the region has sophisticated policy responses and regulations in place, citing the experiences of three countries which have been recognised through AFI’s Global Financial Inclusion Awards. 

“The Central Bank of Egypt has introduced a financial education curriculum for students, encouraging banks to develop tailored products for youth, and simplifying KYC regulations to allow 16 to 21 year olds to open accounts without needing the approval of a guardian.” 

“The Palestine Monetary Authority has launched the Masrifi app for youth financial education, while the Central Bank of Tunisia has come up with a creative project to promote financial education for children, and designed an e-learning platform for youth.”  

Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, explained that Morocco was expanding access to financial services by letting customers open accounts without a deposit, offering instant transfer facilities, and removing fees for the most common banking operations.   

Dr Hannig’s view that financial inclusion was complementary to central banks’ core objectives of delivering monetary and financial stability was endorsed by IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li, who said that “through financial inclusion we have more diversification and risk sharing, which is good for stability.”  

You can watch the panel discussion here.