News & Notice

21-23 September

Beijing Ÿ China

The purport of the term financial inclusion is more profound than that of finance as traditionally defined. The key to the sustainable development of financial inclusion is building capacities for all stakeholders, especially for the traditionally disenfranchised segments of the society, through financial education and other capacity building initiatives that are available, accessible and affordable for all. To teach people to fish, figuratively speaking, the efforts undertaken in capacity building is aspired to fulfill the dual mandates of financial inclusion of social good and economic sustainability.

To be specific, financial consumers shall improve their financial literacy and risk awareness, understand their rights and protection measures, and learn to leverage financial resources available to them; inclusive financial service providers shall improve their corporate governance, risk management capabilities, and business acumen to innovate their business models, products, and service offerings; and government authorities shall adapt themselves to the ever-changing market landscape and refine their policy-making and regulatory approaches accordingly.

In this digitalized brave new world capacity building necessitates the unleashing the power of FinTech, and only by so doing could the coverage, accessibility, and adequacy of financial services be elevated and the development imperative of uplifting China’s financial inclusion to upper-middle level in the world by 2020, as established in the country’s The Plan for the Development of Financial Inclusion (2016-2020), be achieved.

Theme and Topics

As the slogan “Capacity Changes the World” indicates, this year’s Forum focuses upon pressing issues surrounding capacity building for financial inclusion stakeholders. A wide spectrum of discussion topics covers: policy-making and regulatory capacity; financial institutions’ corporate governance, skills to innovate, and risk savvy; client education and protection; digital dividend and divide， etc.. In addition, the first Sino-Africa Summit on Digital Financial Inclusion is also to be held as a part of the event. The Forum will be divided to different sessions including opening ceremony, plenary discussions, parallel forums, workshop sessions and closed-door meeting.

Specific topics includes:

Financial literacy and capacity building;

Consumer protection;

Governance and capacity for financial institutions;

Product and service innovation;

RegTech and regulatory capacity;

Development of FinTech; and

Digital dividend and divide.

Organizational Structure

Supported by:

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC)

China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC)

Organizers:

Renmin University of China (RUC)

China Banking Association (CBA)

China Microcredit Companies Association (CMCA)

Co-Organizers:

Payment & Clearing Association of China (PCAC)

China Foundation of Development of Financial Education

Hosted by:

Chinese Academy of Financial Inclusion (CAFI)

Renda Puhui (Beijing) Consultation Co., Ltd.

Lead Sponsor:

HSBC Group

Public Interest and Charity Partner:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Special Partners:

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

SME Finance Forum

The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)

UN Country Team in China

Partners:

Visa, Ant Financial, JD Finance, Credit Ease, AVIC Trust, China Zheshang Bank Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Rural Credit Cooperatives Union, CreditEx Fintech

Keynote Speakers

Leaders from central and local governments and leading experts in the financial inclusion-related areas will be invited to attend the Forum. Also attending are participants from the World Bank, IFC, SME Finance Forum, Accion and other international organizations.

Audience

A diversified audience consists of policy makers, researchers and practitioners from government agencies, academia, think tanks, philanthropies, public interest groups, private sectors, and international organizations.

Language

Mandarin and English. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

Agenda (Draft)