Latin American and Caribbean policymakers and regulators gathered to discuss the current state of development of mobile financial services (MFS) as a tool to promote financial inclusion in the region at the “Smart policies for mobile finance in the Americas: The next financial inclusion breakthrough?” conference on 21-22 February 2013 in Cartagena, Colombia.

 

Hosted by the Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito Público de Colombia, AFI and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), the conference is the first regional AFI meeting to cover smart policies for mobile finance in Latin America. Participants at this event included high-level representatives from Latin American and Caribbean member institutions, as well as stakeholders, including high-level representatives from financial service providers and telecommunications companies.

 

Attendees highlighted global and regional perspectives on MFS, in particular policies and regulation, as well as the progress of MFS and financial inclusion in the region.

 

“We’re very invested in financial inclusion. We think it’s good for reducing the problem of inequality,” said Mauricio Cárdenas, Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia. “We’re at the stage of development where we want more inclusion, we want to narrow the gaps that exist in this country and financial inclusion is a key to that result.”

 

Following those discussions, five countries — Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru — presented lessons learned from their respective approaches to MFS.

 

Notably, Peru recently became the first country in the region to issue e-money legislation by national parliament.

 

“E-money is the next step in the dematerialization of money. The creation of e-money is a revolution like the introduction of paper money,” said Daniel Schydlowsky, Superintendent of Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS) del Peru. “Poor people will substantially benefit from this development.”

 

Additionally, each nation developed basic bank accounts that address the needs of the unbanked and under-banked population. Those accounts come with lower Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and can be opened outside bank branches or, in the case of Mexico, anonymously.

 

Discussion also focused on partnerships and electronic payment networks, and AML/CFT along with various technology risks involved with the use of mobile payment systems.

 

The meeting in Cartagena is another step toward deeper regional engagement within the AFI Network. AFI members from the Pacific Islands have been collaborating regionally through the AFI Pacific Islands Working Group (PIWG). Meanwhile, African policymakers and regulators launched the first African Mobile Phone Financial Services Policy Initiative (AMPI) last week in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

 

“The development of MFS has really begun to flourish throughout the Latin American continent as regulators and policymakers act to create enabling environments for this expansion while safeguarding the stability and integrity of the financial system,” said Alfred Hannig, Executive Director of AFI. “The learning curve on MFS is moving and this meeting helps keep momentum and accelerate the pace for more success stories.

 

“Our future work in Latin America and the Caribbean is envisaged as a mechanism for mutual learning with sustainable high-level commitments to drive uptake and increase the use of MFS in the region.”