On 18-19 September, the Government of the Republic of Kenya and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hosted a high-level conference on Kenya’s economic successes, prospects and challenges. Held under the theme of ‘Ready to Take Off?’, the conference was opened by His Excellency, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and featured high-level policymakers from the Kenyan Government and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), along with representatives from the private sector, civil society and development partners.

CBK Governor and former AFI Steering Committee Chairperson Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u took a prominent role in the conference, including a presentation entitled ‘Kenya’s Mobile Banking: A Revolution in the Financial Landscape’. Governor Ndung’u stressed the important role of financial inclusion policy in “making the market”, i.e. reducing unit costs of financial services and creating an enabling environment, while highlighting how innovations, such as those in mobile financial services (MFS), are driving and inspiring regulators to be creative.

“Banks are no longer fighting the mobile financial services platform” said Governor Ndung’u, against the background of the rapid financial inclusion progress in Kenya in recent years. “They are embracing it and we are seeing impressive results.”

The presentation ended with a glimpse of future priorities for Kenya and financial inclusion, including the role of the African Mobile Phone Financial Services Policy Initiative (AMPI) as a regional peer learning platform and effective consumer protection and financial education to become the next game changer.

The final session of the conference, ‘Making Inclusive Growth a Reality’, featured a presentation from AFI Executive Director Alfred Hannig titled “Financial Inclusion has made a difference”.

Mr. Hannig provided a brief overview of the global status of financial inclusion and of Kenya’s longstanding and prominent role within the AFI Network as well as its leading role in mobile money and financial inclusion policy and regulation, both within Africa and around the world. He noted that due to the efforts of institutions such as CBK, developing and emerging policymakers now have a strong voice in the global economic development debate, and because of this, the traditional view of a central bank’s role has changed.

“In a relatively short period of time, we have witnessed an evolution in the role of central bankers from pure monetary policy and focus on financial stability, to a greater role in propelling and sustaining inclusive economic growth,” said Mr. Hannig.

The conference was live cast by the IMF. Both the agenda and video records of the sessions are available through the IMF website by clicking here.

Kenya’s Mobile Phone Financial Services: A Revolution in the Financial Landscape