On September 26, 2019, the Asian Financial Inclusion Symposium with the theme of “Women’s economic empowerment through inclusive financial innovations” was organized in Hanoi under the chairmanship of Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
Also attending the Symposium were representatives from ASEAN central banks, Ministries of Finance, Financial and Monetary Supervision Authorities, international financial institutions, SBV entities and branches, relevant ministries, associations and domestic financial institutions.
Help women maximize the benefits of financial services
In his opening speech, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh affirmed that through the selection of the above-mentioned theme as the focus of this Symposium, the SBV hoped to create opportunities for policy makers, practitioners and other related parties to exchange and share about the key challenges that women are facing in accessing finance and doing business, thereby finding effective orientations and solutions for women, including women-owned enterprises, to get maximum benefits when accessing and using financial products and services, as well as contributing more effectively to the economic development.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh shared that, in the recent years, the implementation of financial inclusion in the world has achieved positive results. According to the World Bank's Findex 2017, the global financial access ratio was 69%, an increase of 7% as compared to that of 2014 and 18% as compared to that of 2011. In the developing countries, this ratio increased from 54% in 2014 to 63% in 2017. The achieved results have enabled people and businesses to use better financial services, narrowing the gap between rural and urban areas, developing the investment and expansion of the infrastructure, reducing poverty, etc. The active participation and coordination of the international community and the tireless efforts of each country, each region, including the ASEAN community, have contributed significantly to those outcomes.
An overview of the Symposium
However, despite certain successes in the implementation of financial inclusion globally, there are still various challenges for the international community. According to Findex, about 1.7 billion adults have not had access to finance; the gap between the rich and the poor, as well as the gender inequalities in getting access to financial services have not been improved as compared to the data collected from the previous surveys; the financial awareness and education for the people have not been adequate and there have been obstacles in the legal frameworks for the monitoring and customer protection; investments in financial infrastructure and development of financial services and products in the digital era have still been insufficient.
Facing these challenges, the ASEAN countries have recently jointly formulated a forum to exchange and share information and experience through the ASEAN Working Committee on Financial Inclusion (WC-FINC) and set a common goal of reducing the proportion of people without financial access in the ASEAN from 44% to 30%, as well as increasing the readiness of financial inclusion infrastructure from 70% to 85% by 2025.
Narrowing the gender equality gap in access to finance
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh emphasized that this Symposium was also one of the efforts to promote financial inclusion with many useful topics, contents and updated issues, etc. The issue of gender equality in access to finance, especially the enhancement of women's roles and rights in promoting financial inclusion has been integrated into the discussed topics because women are still inferior to men in financial access. According to Findex 2017, the percentage of global women with accounts at financial institutions is 56%, this level is 7% lower than that of men, while this gap is 9% in developing countries, and it has not changed from the surveys in 2011 and 2014 till now. This was the reason why the SBV chose the theme of "Women’s economic empowerment through inclusive financial innovations" as the focus of this Symposium.
Speakers at the Symposium
The Symposium was organized in the context that Vietnam is actively participating in the joint efforts of the international community to promote financial inclusion with the coming issuance of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy. It was also an opportunity for Vietnam to share its experience and lessons learnt in organizing the implementation of financial inclusion, especially initiatives and solutions to enhance access to finance for women, who receive a lot of attention and are often prioritised in the development policies in Vietnam.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh expressed his beliefs that the Symposium would help to provide a more comprehensive view on financial inclusion in general and the role of women in contributing to promoting financial inclusion in particular. He also hoped that the relevant parties would actively and effectively participate in the discussions, thereby coming up with appropriate recommendations, solutions, reform suggestions and policies. At the same time, the Symposium was expected to come up with recommendations for priority areas of cooperation in order to promote a dynamic and sustainable foundation for financial inclusion in the ASEAN community.
Le Hang