Capacity Building Seminar on Financial Inclusion in Asia-Pacific The Way Forward
Jointly organized by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the IMF’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (OAP), supported by the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department (APD), and funded by the Government of Japan
December 7-8, 2017
Agenda
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Day 1: December 7, 2017 |
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8:45– 9:30 AM |
Registration |
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Opening Ceremony |
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9:30– 9:35 AM |
Welcome Address—Chikahisa Sumi, Director, OAP/IMF |
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9:35– 9:45 AM |
Opening Remarks— Neav Chanthana, Deputy Governor, National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) |
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9:45– 10:00 AM |
Photo Session |
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Setting the Stage: Financial Inclusion in Asia-Pacific: Why it Matters |
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10:00–10:15 AM
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The focus of this presentation will be to set the stage for the conference while highlighting recent IMF findings on the importance of financial inclusion in Asia-Pacific. In particular, it will focus on (i) laying out stylized facts, (ii) providing an overview of financial inclusion in the region, and (iii) raising some questions on financial inclusion for the later sessions. |
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Speaker: |
Kenneth H. Kang, Deputy Director, APD, IMF |
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10:15–10:30 AM |
Coffee Break |
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Session I: Impact of Financial Inclusion on Inequality and Poverty |
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10:30–12:00 PM |
This session will discuss how financial inclusion affects growth, poverty, and inequality. Focus will be given to policy approaches that would help amplify the benefits of financial inclusion and to initial conditions and country characteristics that need be taken into account in defining policy priorities. More specifically, this session will demonstrate relationship between financial inclusion and growth and how it varies across countries. It will then discuss the impact of financial inclusion on poverty reduction and contribution to narrowing income inequality. |
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Moderator: |
Yongzheng Yang, IMF Resident Representative to the Philippines |
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Speaker: |
Piyaporn (Nikki) Sodsriwiboon, Senior Economist, APD, IMF Cormac Sullivan, Research Assistant, APD, IMF – short presentation on the datasets and analytics used in research for the Financial Inclusion Cluster Report |
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Panelists:
Q&A: |
Faisal Ahmed, Chief Economist, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Kelly Hattel, Financial Sector Specialist, Southeast Asia Department, ADB Le Phuong Lan, Deputy Director General, State Bank of Vietnam, Vietnam General questions from the audience |
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12:00–2:00 PM |
Lunch Break |
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Session II: Linkages between Macroeconomic Policies and Financial Inclusion |
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2:00–3:30 PM |
The discussion will focus on how financial inclusion can influence the conduct of monetary and fiscal policies. It will elaborate on why monetary and fiscal policies need to evolve with greater financial inclusion. |
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Moderator: |
Chea Serey, Director General, NBC, Cambodia |
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Speakers: |
Sarwat Jahan, Senior Economist, APD, IMF |
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Discussants:
Q&A: |
Eko Ariantoro, Director of Financial Inclusion Development, Financial Services Authority, Indonesia Myint Wai, Staff Officer, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Myanmar Dalrai Davaasambuu, Head of Supervisory Board, Bank of Mongolia General questions from the audience |
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3:30–3:45 PM |
Coffee Break |
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Session III: Impact of Fintech on Financial Inclusion |
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3:45–5:30 PM |
The application of innovative technologies to financial services– FinTech–holds great promise for expanding financial inclusion, and at the same time, FinTech creates new challenges for consumers, service providers, and regulators. Policymaking will need to be nimble, experimental, and cooperative. Regulatory authorities need to be assured that risks to stability and integrity can be effectively managed without stifling innovation, and that trust can be maintained in an evolving financial system. Against this background, the session will discuss how the technological innovations in finance, combined with effective regulation and supervision, can expand the scale, scope, and reach of financial services, helping to close the remaining gaps in financial inclusion. The session will focus on the potential financial stability issues associated with Fintech. Finally, it will examine the role of regulatory “sandboxes” in permitting innovative technological developments while ensuring that consumers are treated fairly and their personal information is adequately protected.
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Moderator: |
Ken Kashiwase, Deputy Head of Office, OAP/IMF |
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Speaker: |
Elena Loukoianova, Deputy Division Chief, APD, IMF |
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Panelists:
Q&A: |
Martin Cihak, Advisor, MCM, IMF John Schindler, Associate Director, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, USA Swisa Ariyapruchya, Assistant Director, Bank of Thailand, Thailand Ruan Swanepoel, Senior Commercial Director, Wing Bank, Cambodia General questions from the audience |
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6:00–8:00 PM |
Welcome Dinner Short Dinner Toast by Representative from National Bank of Cambodia Dinner Speech by Ruan Swanepoel, Senior Commercial Director, Wing Specialized Bank Cambodia |
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Day 2: December 8, 2017 |
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Session IV:Country Experiences |
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9:00–10:30 AM |
Participants from three countries will present their own experience with financial inclusion, focusing on their unique approach and challenges. Country Cases: The Cambodian representative will share their approach to balancing financial inclusion with the needed to ensure financial stability, the India representative will discuss development of financial inclusion in a broad perspective, and the small state representative will focus on their challenges in dealing with correspondent banking relationships as well as tackling difficulties posed by remoteness. |
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Moderator: |
Bianca Isaincu, Regional Manage Asia and ECA, Alliance for Financial Inclusion representative |
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Speakers: |
Khou Vouthy, Deputy Director General, NBC, Cambodia Deepti Agrawal, Assistant General Manager, Reserve Bank of India Duri Buadromo, Manager, Reserve Bank of Fiji |
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Q&A: |
General questions from the audience |
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10:30–11:00 AM |
Coffee Break |
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Session V: Concluding Session |
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11:00 AM–12:30 PM
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The roundtable discussion will take stock of the general findings and recommendations that have been coming out of the previous sessions. It will then provide an opportunity to exchange ideas on what is needed for a “call of action” where concrete policies can be undertaken in the Asia-Pacific region to enhance financial inclusion. |
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Moderator: |
Kenneth Kang, Deputy Director, APD, IMF |
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Panel: |
Faisal Ahmed, Chief Economist, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh
Ma. Teresa S. Habitan, Assistant Secretary, Department of Finance, Philippines
Chea Serey, Director General, NBC, Cambodia John Schindler, Associate Director, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, USA
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Concluding views from the audience |
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Wrap-up remarks: Chikahisa Sumi, Director, OAP/IMF Wrap-up remarks: Chea Serey, Director General, NBC, Cambodia
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12:30-2:00 PM |
Closing Lunch |
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