SPECIAL REPORT: Working with Central Banks to Extend Microfinance to Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs)

At European Microfinance PlatformThursday’s European Microfinance Week session on serving forcibly displaced persons (FDPs), Mariam Jemila Zahari of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), a Malaysia-based network of financial regulators from 90 countries, described her organization’s work in Afghanistan, Mauritania and Rwanda. The Central Bank of Mauritania, for example, used AFI’s peer-learning model to connect with peers from Burundi and Zimbabwe to improve FDPs’ access to finance.

Ms Zahari underscored the importance of including FDPs in national financial inclusion plans as a first step in creating an enabling environment for providing financial services to FDPs. This can help address obstacles such as lack of identification documents, low levels of financial literacy and a lack of data on FDPs. Regarding data, the World Bank’s Global Findex database on financial inclusion does not include data specific to refugees. Also, the data that do exist on FDPs often exclude key characteristics such as age.

Lisa Klinger of the German government’s GIZ discussed the utility of proportional regulation, which can allow simpler know-your-customer (KYC) – including electronic KYC – procedures for low-value financial accounts. For example, this can permit FDPs to use identity cards from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to open accounts.

This feature is part of a sponsored series on European Microfinance Week 2020, which took place online from November 18 through November 20. The event is held annually by e-MFP. MicroCapital has been engaged to promote and report on the conference each year since 2012.

Additional Resources

“We Build Bridges” Roadmap to the Sustainable and Responsible Financial Inclusion of FDPs
https://www.rescue-uk.org/report/we-build-bridges-roadmap-sustainable-and-responsible-financial-inclusion-forcibly-displaced

European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) information on European Microfinance Week 2020
http://www.e-mfp.eu/european-microfinance-week-2020

MicroCapital coverage of European Microfinance Week, including the European Microfinance Award
https://www.microcapital.org/category/european-microfinance-week/

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