From 3 to 6 February, AFI and Bangladesh Bank organized a global Joint Learning Program in Dhaka. Participants from 35 member institutions in 32 countries attended the event, which explored how to develop and implement policies on disaggregated data and innovative digital financial services in order to enhance women’s financial inclusion, drawing on Bangladesh’s experience.

“The positive impact of initiatives to increase women’s financial inclusion cannot be measured without data,” said Bangladesh Bank Governor, Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur. ”Bangladesh Bank launched a data dashboard in 2023 to illuminate the landscape of women’s financial inclusion through comprehensive data representation, with the goal of keeping the gender gap under constant monitoring.”

“Increasing women’s financial inclusion and narrowing the gender gap through gender responsive financial policy and regulation has been a priority to the AFI network since its establishment,” said AFI Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Soo Yuen Chee. “Policymakers have made significant strides in creating enabling environments to provide quality financial services for women, which promote usage and narrow the gender gap. This week, we will learn more about these policies, taking inspiration from the Bangladesh journey.”

The event also analyzed how innovative digital financial services can accelerate financial access, looking at both policy interventions and private sector initiatives.

In addition to Bangladesh Bank and the AFI Secretariat, expert speakers came from Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) of Bangladesh, State Bank of Pakistan, National Bank of Rwanda, Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), and Central Bank of Armenia, as well as a wide range of institutions from Bangladesh’s financial inclusion landscape.

AFI’s global Gender Inclusive Finance workstream is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and other funding partners.