NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, April 17, 2015

Today, MasterCard and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) signed a strategic partnership agreement that will enable a close collaboration within AFI’s Public-Private Dialogue Platform (PPD).

Launched in 2014, AFI’s Global PPD Platform incentivizes policymakers and regulators to cooperate with the private sector in designing smart policy solutions that encourage innovation and investment. MasterCard with over 500 programs in 50 countries that have already reached 150 million people previously excluded from financial services will bring unique knowledge, resources and technical expertise critical to addressing regulatory challenges around financial inclusion. As part of the agreement, MasterCard will provide:

• Contribution to technical capacity building for AFI members on emerging payments, risk management and technology innovations to support financial inclusion in multiple regions, including Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa.
• Ongoing dialogue in developing national-level public-private engagement strategies to AFI Working Groups, including the Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG) made up of 39 policymaking institutions.
• Public and customized research and best practices that helps to inform policy dialogue
• Exposure to innovative products, business models and approaches to ensure the long term sustainability of AFI’s PPD