On August 20-21, 2024, in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) hosted the 18th Meeting of the ASEAN Working Committee on Financial Inclusion (WC-FINC) under the co-chairmanship of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB). The Meeting was attended by representatives from the central banks of ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Secretariat, and partner institutions such as UNCDF, ASEAN-BAC, and OECD.
At the meeting, the participants discussed and provided updates on the implementation progress of the activities and initiatives for priority cooperation of the WC-FINC in 2024 in such topics as the enhancement of financial inclusion for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), innovations in the digital financial services, digital payment and digital financial literacy. Moreover, the participants also shared their experience and initiatives on the formulation of the Financial Transparency Corridor in order to strengthen the cross-border financial services for MSMEs; the application of the digital banking to promote financial inclusion; the establishment of a sustainable and resilient ecosystem for digital finance to support MSMEs; the role of agent banks in the promotion of financial inclusion.
The Heads of Delegations at the meeting of the ASEAN WC–FINC
Moreover, on the sidelines of the official meeting, the WC-FINC also cooperated with the OECD to organize a Roundtable Seminar on Financial Inclusion, Protection of Financial Users and Financial Literacy. At the Seminar, the participants discussed about the new policy trends; measures and strategies to resolve the barriers in the implementation of the framework for enhancing the digital financial literacy; the new trends in protecting financial users to provide references for policy makers; the cooperation mechanisms among the Member States, as well as among the authorities and relevant entities in each country in order to promote financial inclusion.
Those above-mentioned substances would be consolidated and reported to the ASEAN Central Bank Deputy Governors at the ASEAN Senior Level Committee on Financial Integration Meeting (SLC), which will be held on September 20, 2024 in Da Nang under the co-chairmanship of the SBV and Bank Indonesia.
Le Hang