Annual Africa Banking and Finance Conference

Plans are underway for the 8th Edition of the Annual Africa Banking and Finance Conference ( ABFC 2019)which will be held on the 24th & 25th of April 2019 in Nairobi Kenya.

Held under the theme, “Assessing the Business Drivers for the Banking & Finance Industry”, the agenda will focus on Micro Finance in Africa, Financial Inclusion, Technology in banking and Finance industry in Africa amongst other topics as in the preliminary agenda attached.

Alongside the conference, there will be an exhibition platform where actors can showcase products and services. This exhibition will also function as an outstanding deal-making where local, regional and international investors can engage and evaluate promising investment opportunities. Interesting and investable business cases will be presented by various service providers.

Click here for more information and registration.

Financial Inclusion Summit – South Africa

The financial inclusion summit is a thought leadership event on financial inclusion. The two-day program will bring together practitioners and leading experts on financial inclusion.

The summit will cover the following themes:

  • Financial inclusion, the changing landscape.
  • Financial inclusion: The next generation.
  • Harnessing change to accelerate financial inclusion.
  • Digital financial services in the FinTech era.
  • The future of financing for micro, small and medium enterprises.
  • Using the block chain to drive financial inclusion.
  • Regulation and supervision for inclusive innovation.
  • Developing financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Building trust and overcoming barriers in digital financial services.
  • A new age of collaboration.
  • Mobile payments and technology.
  • Effective systems in inclusive finance – UK experience.
  • Capital raising to support inclusive finance programs.

Target Audience:

  • Practitioners /MFIs institutions.
  • Financial inclusion experts.
  • Microfinance associations.
  • Government representatives.
  • Researchers.
  • International and local NGOs.
  • Financial technology.
  • Technical and financial development partners.

For more information click here

Risk Initiative Management (RIM) – Institution Assessment Training for Independent Assessors

OBJECTIVES

The Institution Assessment Training for Independent Assessors, offered by PRMIA and RIM, is an in-depth, three-day training course designed for risk management experts, consultants, and consulting firms serving the microfinance industry. Through interactive lectures, facilitated discussions, and a case study, assessors learn to conduct a risk management gap analysis and facilitate the creation of a strategic risk management development plan using the Graduation Model and Institution Assessment framework. RIM’s cost-effective training course builds competencies, develops efficiency, and eliminates the need to create a comprehensive risk management assessment methodology, enhancing an assessor’s competitive advantage in the bidding process.

Registration

CONTENT

Participants will:

  • Learn the components of RIM’s Graduation Model framework and its value proposition compared to traditional, single-bottom-line risk management frameworks;
  • Learn how to facilitate RIM’s Institution Assessment process, including critical factors within Graduation Model scoring;
  • Learn how to navigate RIM’s Graduation Model Encyclopedia (formerly known as RIM’s Knowledge Base);
  • Gain access and learn to use RIM’s Institution Assessment implementation tools and resources;
  • Be granted a complementary 2018 individual membership ($500 value);
  • Be given the opportunity to join RIM’s exclusive Institution Assessor Directory (formerly known as RMGM Assessor Database);

PREREQUISITES 

To ensure robust discussions and for the training to be most effective, participants should have had carried out, are in the process of carrying out, or plan on carrying out technical risk management projects with double-bottom-line financial institutions. Participants should be fluent in comprehensive risk management in financial inclusion and have basic skills in MS Excel.

DATE AND PLACE OF TRAINING

Date: From 22 to 24 May 2019, from 9am to 5pm
Place: ADA – 39 rue Glesener – L-1631 Luxembourg

COST

$1,300.

Registration

CONTACT

training@riminitiative.org

FACILITATOR

Sa-Eun Park

Sa-Eun Park

Sa-Eun Park, brings over a decade of experience in financial services working with commercial banks in the United States and microfinance and informal groups in various developing countries.

As a financial inclusion consultant, she currently provides professional training, evaluation, and consulting services globally to build the internal capacity of microfinance institutions. She specializes in risk management and risk-based product development. Her recent assignments in microfinance risk management have taken her to the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa to develop risk management frameworks, policies, and strategies in the regions. Previously, she managed complex economic development projects in Inclusive Financial Services at MEDA, where she designed and managed capacity-building projects and consultancies to better reach women, youth, rural, and under-banked populations across thirteen countries.

Sa-Eun has a master’s degree in development management with a concentration on microfinance and financial management from American University in Washington, DC, and an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of California–Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. She speaks fluent Korean and English, with a working proficiency in French and basic Arabic.

Click here for more.

Inclusive Finance India Summit 2019

Inclusive Finance India is a global policy platform on financial Inclusion setup with the objective of enabling cross-pollination of best practices and breakthroughs, specifically to influence India’s Financial Inclusion strategy and campaign. Inclusive Finance India, with its legacy of more than 14 years, has provided a strong articulation for building a vision and a strong ecosystem with clearly defined roles for stakeholders and making key recommendations on financial inclusion policy, regulation, supervision, technology advancements, client protection and institutional framework.

The Inclusive Finance India Summit strives to bring together all stakeholders in the financial inclusion value chain and to help create an eco-system where all efforts collaborate and contribute to a large aggregate outcome. The Summit seeks to inform, influence and support policy towards strengthening an enabling environment, besides providing a platform to discuss key issues and challenges and build consensus on the way forward. Appropriate session themes that will help in understanding the roles of diverse stakeholders, identify impeding and enabling factors, assess the value of different models, understand technological innovations, private sector initiatives and government initiatives that focus on financial inclusion are designed for discussions and recommendations.

The Summit also provides opportunities for learning from experiences and innovations in other regions of the world. The Summit invites participation from the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, Banks, payments gateways, multilateral/bilateral agencies, private sector and other stakeholders from within and outside the country to share experiences and delve and deep dive into critical issues.

Event Fees:

  • National: INR 12,500
  • International participant: $550

Click here to find out more about the event.

MFC Annual Conference 2019: Demystifying Digital in Microfinance

The MFC Annual Conference is one of the most significant events in the financial inclusion sector. This year, our theme will be Demystifying Digital in Microfinance” and the event will run from 29–31 May 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey.

This 22nd MFC Annual Conference will tackle the practical side of digitalization in the financial inclusion sector through case studies, trend analysis and discussion of emerging best practice. The agenda will include a full range of workshops, panel discussions and side meetings to explore different aspects of the digitalization in financial inclusion, including:

  • Agile ways of working
  • Developing staff digital competency
  • Digital client experience
  • Non-credit digital products
  • Digitalization strategies
  • Responsible digital financial services
  • Digital risk management
  • Regulatory issues connected with digitalization
  • Financial services for migrants
  • Digital tools for improving financial health
  • FinTechs and financial inclusion
  • Designing the micro-businesses ecosystem

The conference will also feature a number of important concurrent events:

  • To encourage innovation, we’ll host the Fintech Marketplace where financial institutions and technology companies can engage to discuss challenges and solutions and build new partnerships.
  • The Social Investor Fair will bring together socially-oriented donors and investors with MFIs seeking funding, and provide a space for one-on-one to discuss funding needs opportunities, and explore potential new financial partnerships.
  • The 5th Annual CEO Forum Summit – an exclusive space for CEOs and MFI leaders to discuss challenges, share their experience and expand their knowledge and practice horizons. The CEO Forum Summit will be held as a post-conference event on 1 June 2019.
  • Pre-conference workshop on product pricing in microfinance
  • The Microfinance Associations Summit – a unique occasion for associations to meet, share experience and discuss cooperation possibilities
  • Gala Dinner with a mesmerising atmosphere and good food will set the backdrop for relaxed networking and lively conversation on emerging topics.

The Early Bird registration opens on 25 February and closes 31 March. Don’t miss your chance to grab your discount tickets!

We look forward to welcoming over 500 delegates from across Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus and beyond. By joining together our expertise and knowledge we will be able to offer an even more tailored and top-notch conference experience in 2019!

Click here for more information

European Research Conference on Microfinance

We are delighted to announce that the 6th European Research Conference on Microfinance will take place on June 3 – 5, 2019 at the Paris Dauphine University, France. This event is co-organised by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier Business School and Paris Dauphine University in cooperation with the European Microfinance Platform. This 2019 edition is entitled New Tools, New Actors: Which aims, values and beneficiaries? and it will focus on the challenges of industrialisation and massification, which have been fuelled by the increasing use of new technologies as supposedly efficient instruments for fostering financial inclusion worldwide. Click here to read more.

2019 Overview Course Of Financial Sector Issues

The 2019 Overview Course of Financial Sector Issues aims at providing a solid knowledge of the fundamentals of the financial sector and an opportunity to learn about the latest thinking in key areas. The theme in 2019 will be Financial Systems in the Era of Data and Technology.

Throughout the training, participants will hear the views of leading financial experts on the more traditional role of the financial sector as well as how big data and new financial technologies are reshaping finance all over the world. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, interact and engage in discussions with renowned scholars, policy experts and prominent industry figures, who will identify the critical questions related to each topic. The event will also provide the participants with opportunities to network and exchange knowledge of various countries’ experiences with their peers.

The course will be held in the Preston Auditorium of the World Bank Group Headquarters in Washington, DC on June 24-29, 2019. A course completion certificate will be jointly delivered by the World Bank Group and the George Washington University School of Business. Participants will also have a chance to tour the World Bank Group Main Complex.

Click here to register.

Inclusive Digital Future: A Summit on Responsible Finance in Action

The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and the Smart Campaign invite you to attend Inclusive Digital Future: A Summit on Responsible Finance in Action taking place in Nairobi, Kenya from June 25th to 27th.

Over the course of this three-day international forum – organized in partnership with MSC (Microsave Consulting) and ADA – we will confront the most pressing financial inclusion question of the day: How do we promote inclusion and trust in digital financial services while fostering innovation and growth?

The gathering will bring together financial service providers, regulators, investors, and DFS experts for two days of trainings, panels, and interactive breakout discussions, capped off by a field visit to leading Kenyan institutions engaged in digital transformation.

Click here to read more and register

NpM’s Seminar on Geodata for Inclusive Finance and Food

NpM, Platform for Inclusive Finance invites you to participate in a seminar on the use of geospatial data for smallholder finance and the topic of data privacy. The event will take place at the Crowne Plaza Nairobi, Upperhill, from 14.00 – 17.00 on Monday, 24 June 2019.

As part of the series of events for NpM’s Geodata for Inclusive Finance and Food (G4IFF) workstream, this session will present insights from the three winners of the NpM Innovator’s Challenge: Agri-wallet, Apollo Agriculture and VanderSat. The companies will present their efforts in integrating geodata information with financial services for smallholder famers in Kenya. An open discussion will follow to explore issues of data privacy that may arise from the use of geodata by FinTechs, FIs and other actors.

NpM’s seminar precedes the “Inclusive Digital Future” Summit, hosted by the Smart Campaign and the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF), from 25th to 27th June. The forum will bring together financial service providers, regulators, investors, and DFS experts for two days of trainings, panels, and interactive breakout discussions, capped off by a field visit to leading Kenyan institutions engaged in digital transformation.

Advanced registration is required, however, there is no (additional) cost to attend NpM’s seminar only.

If you are already registered for the Inclusive Digital Future Summit:

  1. Follow this link and login to your existing registration.
  2. Navigate to Agenda page and check the box under “Geodata for Inclusive Finance & Food, including Inclusive Digital Future Summit June 25-27.” (Do not select “Monday Only” option.)

If you are not registered for the Inclusive Digital Future Summit:

Registration for the full summit is closed, but if you wish to register for NpM’s seminar and/or participate in the full summit, please contact Mrinal Verma. Please note that if you wish to attend the full summit, you will be charged a $300 fee.

Note: it is possible to either register for both the Summit and NpM’s seminar, or only for NpM’s seminar.

All who register for NpM’s seminar are encouraged to also register for the “Inclusive Digital Future” Summit.

For more information, please contact Catalina von Hildebrand or Mrinal Verma of NpM.

2nd Annual Asia Pacific Microfinance Forum

SUMMARY

Scale-Up Your Impact | How MFIs Can Navigate & Thrive in the Age of Fintech Revolution

Some of the biggest challenges MFIs struggle to overcome today are high operating costs, scalability and low earnings. And it is widely believed today that the provision of financial technology (fintech) innovations is expected to help MFIs reduce their costs, increase operational efficiency and remain competitive in the rapidly changing financial landscape. Additionally, new players like fintech-based lenders and mobile network operators are entering the microfinance industry and targeting the unbanked and the financially excluded segments. How successfully MFIs respond to this dynamic and competitive environment will also determine which actors will survive (remain more relevant) within the financial inclusion industry in the near future.

What’s more, investment in the fintech industry has globally raced ahead to the levels unseen before. In 2018, global investment in fintech companies hit a record high 111.8 billion USD. Fintech investments in Asia increased from $12 billion* in 2017 to $22.7 billion in 2018, dominated by Ant Financial’s record-setting deal ($14 billion). Even though the investments slowed significantly in the second half of the year, it is highly expected that fintech investments will remain strong in Asia and play a crucial role in shaping the dynamics of the financial inclusion industry.**

The 2nd Annual Asia Pacific Microfinance Forum will shed light on how the pioneering microfinance sector players (MFIs, social impact investors, banks, international finance organizations, among many others) evaluate the potential uses, critical success factors as well as implementation challenges of the recent fintech developments in the financial inclusion sector. It will be an invaluable opportunity for sector players to meet their potential/existing business partners and help shape the future of microfinancing in the Asia Pacific region.

*All figures are in US dollars
** KPMG, Global Fintech Investments, 2018

Click here to view full information.

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