Representatives of six central banks in the Pacific region met today in Nadi, Fiji, to discuss how to promote greater financial inclusion in the Pacific. The three day working group meeting is to help central bankers from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste develop policies and regulations that will make it easier for people to save and transfer money with banks or with the new mobile money services offered by mobile network operators.
Co-organisers of the meeting, the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) estimates that some 80% of Pacific Islanders lack access to formal financial services, including savings accounts.
Reserve Bank of Fiji Chief Manager Filimone Waqabaca opened the first session. “We welcome to Fiji our colleagues from the other central banks in the Pacific regions and we look forward to learning from each others’ experiences with financial inclusion development.”
The session started with the review of the current regulations in place in each of the countries and revealed that the know your customer (known as “KYC”) requirements to open bank accounts vary from country to country and in some cases present hurdles to getting a bank account.
The group also discussed how banking agents are being used around the world to reach the unbanked. Banking agents are third parties that partner with banks or other financial services providers and are permitted to carry out some activities on their behalf, such as opening accounts, deposit taking or withdrawals. Michael Tarazi of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) facilitated these sessions. He noted that “the two most important regulatory domains for branchless banking are those related to agency and a risk-based approach to KYC. Getting these right is vital for branchless banking to take off, including mobile phone based systems.”
Discussions also centered around new mobile money systems such as those introduced by Vodafone and Digicel in Fiji. The Central banks representatives recognised that these presented opportunities to Pacific Islander as well as posed challenges to the regions central banks.
“We are making financial inclusion and financial education a priority,” commented Lanna Lome-Ieremia of the Central Bank of Samoa. “The introduction of mobile money services in Samoa is a high priority for us and this working group is helping us to prepare to oversee mobile money service providers in Samoa.”
The Reserve Bank of Fiji played host to high level representatives from the Bank of Papua New Guinea, Central Bank of the Solomon Islands, Central Bank of Samoa, Reserve Bank of Vanuatu and the Banking and Payments Authority of Timor-Leste. The meeting was the third such gathering of central bankers in the region this year facilitated by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, a global network of financial sector policymakers in developing countries, and to which the central banks of the Pacific Island are members.
Press contacts:
Alyson Slater, Alliance for Financial Inclusion
alyson.slater@afi-global.org +66 2401 9370
