6th Leaders Roundtable Meet of SARFII concludes in Kathmandu
KATHMANDU: The 6th Leaders Roundtable meeting of the South Asia Region Financial Inclusion Initiative (SARFII), chaired by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari, concluded in Kathmandu, on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by P Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Md Habibur Rahman, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank; Ahmed Imad, Deputy Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA); Swed Samar Hussain, Executive Director of the State Bank of Pakistan; and Kamarul Haq Maruff, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh.
Delivering a welcome address at the Leaders Roundtable session, NRB Governor Adhikari highlighted the need to make SARFII’s activities result-oriented to achieve the targeted objective of financial inclusion in the South Asian region. He stressed the importance of further strengthening regional cooperation and coordination. The meeting prioritised the agenda of strengthening regional cooperation and coordination through SARFII and preparing a sustainable, inclusive, and innovative financial services model for the next five years. During the meeting, concepts such as 'SARFII Charter Amendment' and 'Terms of Reference of the Expert Group on Financial Inclusion Policy (EGFIP)' under SARFII were presented. Various views were expressed on these concepts by the heads and representatives of SARFII member institutions. The meeting also approved the annual action plan to be implemented through SARFII in 2025.
In the first session, all participants from member institutions presented the current status of financial inclusion in their respective countries and the future vision to be adopted through SARFII for promoting financial inclusion in South Asia. Governor Adhikari discussed the efforts made by NRB in promoting financial inclusion and mentioned that Nepal has made significant progress in financial access and the use of electronic payments. He called for an emphasis on the digitalisation of financial services, customer protection, digital financial literacy, and the expansion of financial services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to strengthen financial inclusion in the South Asian region.
Similarly, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Weerasinghe highlighted the status of financial inclusion in Sri Lanka and suggested future approaches to be adopted through SARFII for expanding financial access and financial services in South Asia.
In the session, NRB Senior Deputy Governor Neelam Dhungana Timsina delivered a welcoming speech, stating that SARFII is an important network to address the challenges seen in expanding financial access in South Asia. Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer Chee Soo Yuen delivered the opening remarks. Governor Adhikari and SARFII Vice Chair member State Bank of Pakistan Executive Director Hussain delivered the closing remarks.
SARFII was established at the 12th meeting of the AFI Global Policy Forum, held in Jordan in September 2022, under the efforts of AFI. Along with NRB, the central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and the Microcredit Regulatory Authority in Bangladesh, are affiliated with the network. NRB has held the Chairmanship of SARFII since September 2024. SARFII was established with the objectives of knowledge exchange, capacity building, and joint learning exercises at the regional level, implementation of technical assistance, promotion of financial inclusion by following good practices, and more.
Prior to the SARFII Leaders Roundtable meeting, the Expert Group on Financial Inclusion Policy (EGFIP) and the Payment Expert Group (PEG) meetings were held on February 17, and the relevant agenda was discussed. A training session on 'Regional Training on Enhancing Cyber Resilience in Digital Payments and Infrastructure' was also jointly organised by AFI and NRB from February 17 to 19. The training focused on capacity building for mitigating cyber security risks, protecting financial customers from such risks, and sharing experiences of regional practices related to this. The training was attended by 31 representatives from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
