The GSMA will bring together decision makers from financial regulatory authorities and mobile network operators (MNOs) to discuss regulatory issues surrounding digital money and financial inclusion in an effort to stimulate an increased understanding and collaboration between all mobile money stakeholders globally at the Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) Leadership Forum 25 October 2012 in Milan, Italy.

The forum’s theme “Financial Inclusion Through Mobile: Policy Dilemmas and Regulatory Solutions” aims to enhance the awareness of the role that digital currency can play in financial inclusion and economic development, as well as to promote the dialogue between policymakers and practitioners on the possible solutions to scale up the adoption of mobile money.

The Leadership Forum is an important part of the GSMA NFC and Mobile Money Summit, which will be held at the Milano Congressi in Milan 23-24 October 2012. This summit will provide a comprehensive demonstration of the addressable markets, a showcase for new solutions, and a forum for sharing key success factors and lessons learned from around the world.

Some important themes that will be explored at the Leadership Forum include:

• A digital pathway to financial inclusion: what is an incremental approach to mobile money regulation?
• New actors for financial inclusion: how to regulate non-bank mobile money providers?
• Mobile money 2.0: new products, new regulatory challenges?

Also, in collaboration with AFI’s Mobile Financial Services Working Group (MFSWG), the fourth session of the forum will cover data for business development and better policymaking. The discussion will also highlight the collection, analysis, and use of financial inclusion and mobile money data, leveraging the experience of two regulators who have significantly contributed to the collection and release of that data in their countries. Additionally, the Spatial Data Analysis for Financial Inclusion and Operational Efficiency project of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be presented.

Session panelists include Carlos Lopez Moctezuma, Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), Mexico and chair of the AFI MFSWG, Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Development Finance Group Executive Director at the State Bank of Pakistan, and Jake Kendall, Research Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tillman Bruett, Chief Technical Advisor of the United Nations Capital Development Fund will serve as the session’s moderator.