CNBS participates in the tenth meeting of the Financial Inclusion Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC)

La Romana, Dominican Republic

Within the framework of the tenth annual meeting of the Group of Experts on Financial Inclusion Policies (EGFIP) of the Financial Inclusion Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), representatives of the member countries of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI ) held from June 12 to 16 of this year meetings organized by the Superintendency of Banks of the Dominican Republic and AFI.

On behalf of the National Banking and Insurance Commission (CNBS), the Proprietary Commissioner Lic. Alba Valladares and Lic. Ligia Marcela Herrera, Head of the Department of Market Discipline, Transparency and Financial Education, attended the event.

Gathering

Among the topics discussed, they shared the progress made in financial inclusion, the main challenges and achievements of policies related to digital financial services, finance with gender inclusion, finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), challenges in the region on issues of financial inclusion, gender, green finance, finance for MSMEs, among others, carried out through a Tour the Table where each country presented progress on the aforementioned issues.

At the meeting, Ms. Herrera spoke as a panelist in the session “Formalization of Informal MSMEs: Roles of digitization and innovative finance” and in the panel “Public and private green finance initiatives”.

Training

The Superintendency of Banks of the Dominican Republic and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), organized a three-day training on policy formulation to promote access to financing for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) owned by women through digital financial services. FILAC members explored the challenges these companies face, assessed the role of digital financial services in addressing the financial divide, and identified regulatory and policy solutions to boost financial inclusion.

In the development of this training, Ms. Herrera had several participations in different topics such as: “Creation of an enabling environment: the role of policies, regulations and data to facilitate the financial inclusion of MSMEs”, in the who shared how CNBS is driving greater availability and use of sex-disaggregated data and increased awareness of the business case for women’s financial inclusion by increasing private sector awareness and engagement around Women’s Financial Inclusion and fostering the innovation.

In addition, she participated in the panel “Digital Financial Services and Digital Innovations for MSMEs led by women”, in which she presented the advances of the CNBS to promote the Financial Inclusion of Women through digital innovations.

About AFI

The AFI is the world’s leading organization working to advance financial inclusion policy and regulation. The global alliance is made up of 83 member institutions, including central banks, finance ministries and other financial regulators from 75 developing and emerging economies. AFI works to empower policymakers to increase access to and use of financial services

About FILAC

FILAC is the first regional financial inclusion platform of its kind in Latin America and the Caribbean. Composed of 11 member institutions (Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic), it aims to promote inclusive growth and poverty reduction through sustainable policies. of financial inclusion by drawing on the collective experience and knowledge of financial policymakers, regulators and partners at the regional and global levels.