Global Standard-Setting Bodies and Financial Inclusion: The Evolving Landscape

Since the publication of the first Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) White Paper in 2011, Global Standard-Setting Bodies and Financial Inclusion for the Poor – Toward Proportionate Standards and Guidance, global standard-setting bodies (SSBs) have taken fundamental steps on financial inclusion, acting on most of the observations and recommendations in the first edition.

This second GPFI White Paper aims to raise awareness of the changing landscape, to inform ongoing work by the SSBs and other global bodies, and to promote the integration of financial inclusion objectives into standards and guidance that can be applied effectively at the country level. The audiences include the SSBs and other relevant global bodies, country-level policymakers who apply SSB standards and guidance, assessors of country-level implementation of SSB standards and guidance, industry actors, and development professionals.

The evolving phenomenon of “digital financial inclusion” – and the implications of this development for the SSBs are themes that run through all of the crosscutting issues discussed in the 2016 GPFI White Paper, including discussions of:

• Digital financial inclusion - opportunities and risks;
• Frontiers in inclusive financial consumer protection;
• Competition and interoperability;
• Customer identity and privacy;
• Crowdfunding - Bypassing traditional financial intermediaries;
• De-risking and financial exclusion;
• Emerging issues in supervision and financial inclusion.