The Forum, jointly organized by MasterCard and the National Bank of Ukraine, focused on financial inclusion, role of government and business in its development, as well as local and world practices of establishing a financially inclusive society.
The financial inclusion forum Finclusion UA, organized by MasterCard and the NBU, was held in Ukraine for the first time ever. Over 200 participants and guests, including speakers from Azerbaijan, the UK, Poland, Singapore, and Sweden, discussed how to involve people in financial services and why it is important for the public and business.
Yakiv Smolii, the NBU Governor, stated that the foundation to sustainable financial inclusion traverses three dimensions: accessibility of financial services, financial literacy, and consumer rights protection. "Some 41% of Ukraine’s adults had at least one bank account in 2011, by the World Bank estimates. In 2017, this indicator reached 63%. This is an average indicator for Ukraine on the worldwide scale and somewhat below average compared with other countries of our region," says the NBU Governor.
Such countries as Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia have already reached the level of 100% financial inclusion. At the same time, more than 138 million Europeans have no bank account.
Vira Platonova, Country Manager of MasterCard in Ukraine, presented the results of a survey conducted by MasterCard prior to the forum among the participants of the Ukrainian financial market – bankers, business representatives, and civil servants. Some 45% of the respondents rated the level of financial inclusion in Ukraine as low. "According to the survey participants, the key reasons for this situation and, accordingly, the barriers to financial inclusion are insufficient financial literacy, lack of readiness for new experience, low level of welfare, and weak confidence in the financial system as a whole. Experts see the ways of further developments in integration of services in urban infrastructure, network expansion of the access to financial services, and in introduction of new financial services", - says Vira Platonova.
Ian Taylor, Vice President of Business Development Europe, Government and Public Sector at MasterCard Europe, noted that 2 billion people or 39% of the world population are now excluded from the financial system. However, the high level of financial inclusion enables increase in foreign investment in the country, growth of the middle class, gender equality, development of tourism and small and medium enterprises. Experience in using the services and consumer habit development, according to Ian Taylor, are among the key factors of the financial inclusion.
Scott Bales, Managing Director of Innovation Labs Asia, an expert in financial inclusion, addressed an issue of how a thorough interest in human needs in a daily use of money becomes a driver for important changes and establishment of a financially inclusive society. In his turn,Gabriel Söderberg, adviser for the Financial Stability Department from Sveriges Riksbank, spoke on development of a cashless society and financial involvement of the population in Sweden (100% financial inclusion), noting that the path to financial inclusion was a combination of both public and private sector initiatives. Firat Sabit, MasterCard Head of consulting services on the fast-growing European markets,shared with the guests of the forum the findings of the Roadmap to Cashless Azerbaijan Project, focusing on the research of the shadow market in Azerbaijan and the transformation strategy for the cashless economy of the country.
Successful cases and projects aimed at development of financial inclusion in Ukraine, among them – the cases of Ukrzaliznytsia, Vodafone, WOG,Ukrposhta, Kyiv Metro, and other companies, were mentioned at the panel discussions.
The forum's speakers spoke mainly on digital services and their potential in establishing a financially inclusive society. According to experts, the future of financial services is in the convenience, simplicity, minimum required steps and versatility.
At the end of the forum, Oleksandr Yablunivskyi, Director of the NBU Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department, and Dmytro Yablonovskyi, Executive Director Assistant of the Centre for Economic Strategy, concluded that the business sees business opportunities in the financial inclusion in general, while the state's task is to create adequate conditions for their comfortable and effective implementation.