Balancing Growth with Responsible Digital Finance to Ensure Consumer Protection

Fiw Topics

Consumer Protection
Data Risks & Opportunities
Digital Financial Services

Fiw Year

2024

Transcripts:

English

Spanish

French

Summary + Key Insights

The discussion focuses on balancing growth in digital finance with consumer protection through data-driven insights and collaboration among stakeholders.

📈 Consumer Protection Frameworks: Strong consumer protection frameworks are essential for a sustainable digital finance ecosystem, ensuring users are safeguarded against risks.

⚡ Data-Driven Decisions: Collecting comprehensive data (quantitative and qualitative) reveals nuanced insights that can drive actionable changes in financial services.

🌐 Cross-Collaboration: Effective consumer protection requires collaboration across various stakeholders, including regulators and industry associations, to address challenges collectively.

💬 Voice of the Consumer: Engaging with consumers through social media and traditional channels is crucial to understand their experiences and improve services.

📉 Identifying Trends: Monitoring consumer complaints and market behavior helps in detecting emerging risks and tailoring responses to financial service providers.

👩‍⚖️ Focus on Vulnerable Groups: Special attention to vulnerable demographics, such as women and disabled persons, is necessary for equitable access to financial services.

🔍 Innovative Tools: Utilizing advanced technologies, including AI and machine learning, can enhance data collection and analysis, leading to better market insights and protections.

This session summary was AI-generated using NoteGPT.

The digitization of financial services has increased access to and use of these services worldwide, and the use of consumer data to deliver financial services is significantly contributing to this success. However, this growth has also led to heightened exposure to various risks, such as fraud and phishing, misuse of consumer data, lending distress, lack of pricing transparency, and inadequate complaints handling and redress mechanisms. This session will explore these issues through evidence-based presentations and a panel discussion, focusing on the role of technology in mitigating these risks and enhancing consumer-centric product design.

We will describe the growing complexity of the digital finance ecosystem as it expands. Through a brief IPA-CGAP presentation, we will discuss how we collect data on emerging opportunities and challenges using various data sources, including national DFS surveys from CGAP and IPA, social media, complaints data, transaction data, and mystery shopping. Additionally, we will present evidence of key risks associated with digital financial services. Following the presentation, a panel representing different actors from the digital finance ecosystem will discuss the importance of evidence and data collection to elaborate collaborative solutions that can foster more responsible digital finance ecosystems.

Session Speakers

Eric Duflos

Consumer Protection Lead, CGAP

Eric Duflos leads CGAP’s work on consumer protection and responsible finance, from policy, industry and customer perspectives, ensuring that financial services have positive outcomes for customers. He also coordinates CGAP’s work with global Standard Standing Bodies. Eric has 28 years of experience in advancing financial inclusion and economic development, with a strong focus on policy and regulatory issues. His most recent position was director of the office of the UNSGSA, H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands where he supported her policy advocacy work. He also helped the UNSGSA design and launch the CEO Partnership for Economic Inclusion. Prior to this, Eric has held several positions within CGAP, including regional representative for East Asia and the Pacific based in Singapore. Eric’s research and advice have focused on client-centered policy and regulatory issues, and digital finance. In his last essay, he proposes a new way to think about consumer protection with a “Responsible Digital Finance Ecosystem” approach. He has authored numerous articles and publications and taught policy and regulation issues at the Turin/Boulder course, Sciences-Po Paris, and universities in Singapore. Before joining CGAP, Eric worked seven years in the Lao PDR to support the emergence of a financial inclusion policy framework with UNCDF, the Bank of Lao PDR, and the World Bank. He holds a master’s degree in management from EM Lyon, and a master’s in economics and international relations from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.

William Blackmon

Associate Director, Consumer Protection, Innovations for Poverty Action

William is an Associate Director of Consumer Protection on Innovation for Poverty Action’s Financial Inclusion Program. In this role, William oversees a portfolio of research studies, including work related to mobile money agent networks and consumer protection for digital finance users. His work involves supporting studies led by IPA-affiliated researchers as well as overseeing IPA-led research projects. He previously worked in IPA’s Kenya office as a Research Associate and Research Coordinator, where he managed studies focused on education and employment. Prior to joining IPA, he consulted for the World Bank, was a research assistant for the Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development, and Evaluation (gui2de), and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. William earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University and received his undergraduate degree in engineering from California Polytechnic State University.

Sheila Senfuma

Head of Programme – Digital Finance, Consumers International

Sheila Senfuma Nakanyike is the Head of Programme for Digital Finance at Consumers International, the membership organisation for 200+ consumer advocacy groups around the world in more than 100 countries. Consumers International works with members and partners to empower consumers, to ensure consumers are treated safely, fairly and honestly worldwide, and to drive change in the marketplace on global consumer issues including digital access and rights, product safety and sustainability. She oversees the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator, which is a unique and vibrant community of consumer associations in Low- and Middle-Income countries, and a platform for collaborative action, learning and collective influence on digital finance to shape the future for consumers. Prior to joining Consumers International, Sheila worked for the UN World Food Programme Uganda, heading the Cash based Transfers and digital financial inclusion unit. Sheila has also worked for Ensibuuko, a leading financial technology company in Africa, the Bank Policy Institute in Washington DC as an Atlas Corps FinTech fellow, and also worked at Citibank.

Sarah Corley

CEO, Alliance of Digital Finance and Fintech Associations

Sarah Corley is the founder and CEO of the Alliance of Digital Finance and Fintech Associations (AllianceDFA). AllianceDFA is a global hub, uniting digital finance and fintech associations (DFAs) to cultivate synergy and opportunities whilst amplifying their reach and impact. AllianceDFA and its DFA members build ecosystems, enhance market engagement and collaborations and nurture industry innovation to support the growth of inclusive and responsible digital financial services. Sarah is a keynote speaker and advisor to the digital finance and fintech industry and is on the Innovate Finance Women in Fintech Powerlist (2023). She has also been termed the ‘Mother of Fintech Associations’ for her role in supporting more than 20 associations to form. She has participated in webinars and conferences and authored articles on cultivating alliances and associations, optimising collaborations, and building ecosystems within the digital finance industry. Sarah has an MA in HR Management and is a Certified Digital Finance Practitioner (CDFP).

Kershia Singh

Departmental Head: Policy Support, Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) South Africa

Kershia Singh is currently the head of the Policy Support department at the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, within the Regulatory Policy division. Her portfolio involves, amongst others, driving the FSCA’s objectives of supporting financial inclusion and transformation of the South African financial sector, as well as the development of cohesive policy approaches to matters of relevance to the FSCA. It also entails deepening the understanding of customer and market insights to better inform the FSCA’s regulatory and supervisory policy and approaches. Before joining the FSCA in 2019, Kershia was the director responsible for market conduct policy in the National Treasury. She was involved in the Twin Peaks reform process, led by the National Treasury, from 2013 onwards. The reforms resulted in the enactment of the Financial Sector Regulation Act in 2017. A main focus of her area of work was the development of market conduct policy and legislation for the South African financial sector, as well as the financial sector ombuds system.

FIW Resources

Explore Financial Inclusion Week sessions from previous years.

Hosted annually by the Center for Financial Inclusion, FIW brings together global leaders to exchange ideas, share research, and offer perspectives to inform the future of inclusive finance.

Browse Sessions