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

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Brazil, a nation with the world’s seventh wealthiest economy and a GDP of US$ 2.253 trillion in 2012, is the largest nation in Latin America in terms of population and area. Already a well-established regional and global leader in the field of financial inclusion, notably in areas such as agent banking and financial education, with a long history of overcoming policy challenges and difficulties, it would be easy for the nation to rest comfortably on its impressive policy achievements.

However, at the 5th Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) Financial Inclusion Forum, held 4-6 November 2013 in Fortaleza participants discussed financial education, protection and innovation to achieve high-quality financial inclusion, along with various commercial banks, government departments, academia, international stakeholders and members of the private sector. The audience was also eager to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from the Bank of Tanzania’s (BOT) experience in developing and implementing mobile financial services (MFS). Both BCB and BOT are leading member institutions of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI).

BOT National Payment Systems Directorate Advisor Kennedy Komba traveled to the forum to share his institution’s knowledge with his Brazilian peers. Mr. Komba’s participation was facilitated by AFI as a result of a request by BCB for AFI to identify and engage a member institution leading in MFS regulation, and indicative of the knowledge-sharing approach championed by the AFI Network. The exchange was also a natural marriage between member institutions as a result of the substantial progress in MFS Tanzania has demonstrated in recent years by enabling unbanked and under-served communities access to financial services.