IDB Launches Financial Inclusion Programme

• The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group has launched FINLAC (Financial Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean), a new initiative to promote financial inclusion by ensuring that the most vulnerable people in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) can access the financial services they need.
• FINLAC, a joint effort by the IDB, IDB Invest, and IDB Lab, serves as a one-stop shop for advancing financial inclusion, supporting governments and accompanying firms, and igniting innovation in developing and implementing effective policies, reforms, and business practices to create inclusive financial markets in the region.
• The IDB noted that Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the world's most underserved regions in financial services. About 27% of individuals aged 15 and older are excluded from formal financial services, compared to 3% in high-income countries. Only three in ten persons aged 15 and older have obtained a loan with a financial sector entity in the last year, as opposed to three in five adults in high-income countries.
• The IDB said that the initiative will prioritise understanding the barriers to financial inclusion faced by rural communities, indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, women, migrants, older adults, and micro and small businesses.
• It will also be promoting digital transformation to accelerate financial inclusion and resilience; enhancing payment ecosystems to facilitate fast retail transactions; and enabling responsible and consented financial consumer data-sharing with third parties, known as open finance.
• Finally, FINLAC will generate policy-relevant knowledge and data; test innovative business models and private-sector solutions; and disseminate recommendations, best practices and evidence on policies and innovations to build more inclusive financial markets, said Eric Parrado, chief economist and general manager of the Research Department at the IDB.

(Sources: IDB & Trinidad Express Newspaper)