Under the G20 framework, the first workshop of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion(GPFI) this year was held by the People’s Bank of China on March 1-2, 2016. China, Turkey and Germany are the Co-Chairs of GPFI in 2016. Mr. Yi Gang, Deputy Governor of PBC, Mr. Tu Guangshao, Executive Vice Mayor of Shanghai, and Mr. Li Guohua, President of Postal Savings Bank of China attended the workshop and gave keynote speech. Participants discussed issues such as global trends of financial inclusion, reaching “the last mile” of financial inclusion, private sector engagement and the role of government in financial inclusion, and particularly focused on digital financial inclusion, financial inclusion data collection and financial inclusion indicators update.
On 3 March, 2016, the first GPFI Meeting this year was held in Shanghai. Dr. Tianqi Sun, GPFI Co-chair, introduced GPFI Priorities during China’s G20 Presidency for 2016, and summarized the outcomes of GPFI Workshop held on 1-2 March. In the meeting, participants discussed how to formulate the “G20 High-level Principles on Digital Financial Inclusion” to harness digital technologies to promote financial inclusion. The meeting also addressed the importance of improving SME financing and further promoted the implementation of the SME Financing Action Plan. The four subgroups of GPFI, i.e. Subgroup on Regulation and Standard-Setting Bodies, Subgroup on SME finance, Subgroup on Financial Consumer Protection and Financial Literacy and Subgroup on Markets and Payment Systems, discussed this year’s priorities and working plans.
