Here in Papua New Guinea, there is no better place to really understand the challenges of financial inclusion. In AFI, we speak a lot about diversity, and we appreciate diversity. Here, we are in the most linguistically diverse country in the world, with 840 living languages.

One of the reasons for this diversity is Papua New Guinea’s geography. High mountain ranges, thick rainforests, swamps and fast-moving rivers have carved the land into pockets. Humans have inhabited this region for 60,000 years, with tribes separated from each other by terrain which hindered travel or trade.

This gives you an idea of the relevance of financial inclusion in this country, and the efforts that are needed to make it work. In recent years, Papua New Guinea has seen tremendous financial inclusion progress. With more than 4.75 million active bank accounts, and over 19,000 access points across the country, formal financial services are truly close to communities, across this vast and diverse nation.

Something I appreciate particularly is that Papua New Guinea is not only looking at what has been achieved, but at what must come next. Through the National Payment System Strategy, PNG is laying the foundations for a more connected and interoperable digital financial ecosystem, one that can make payments faster, safer and more accessible. The trajectory is towards an inclusive future of digital transformation, opportunity, and strengthened financial capability, all of which serve resilience and sustainable development, which is the spirit of this 2026 AFI Global Policy Forum.

But this is also an opportune time to look back. Ten years ago, the AFI Global Policy Forum was also in the Pacific. In 2016 in Fiji, we launched the Denarau Action Plan, the AFI network’s commitment to gender-inclusive finance. And let me say, in 2016 it was almost unthinkable that 96% of emerging and developing-economy regulators would make such a commitment. Today, gender-inclusive finance is embedded in our activities, but ten years ago, obtaining this commitment was a major feat.

For AFI, gender-inclusive finance is first and foremost about equality – equal access to financial services. But through our GIF workstream, we are also working to elevate female leadership in AFI member institutions and the financial sector as a whole. And we are exploring policy solutions that not only address regulatory and legal barriers, but which can bring down socio-economic barriers, and which tackle embedded social norms. Let me give you some examples of how our network is tackling this.

In Honduras, the Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros is leveraging financial education as a tool for women’s economic empowerment, notably in the care economy, through financial education programmes for indigenous and rural communities. In Peru, SBS has developed the Educación Financiera para Todas programme which is building the financial knowledge of trainers who work directly with women, as well as addressing issues of gender-based violence. Similarly, in Egypt, village savings and loan associations run financial education programmes which address social norms, including helping women to deal with domestic violence.

The Governor of the Bank of Tanzania shared with me that three years ago, the Bank issued a circular to increase director-level female leadership in the financial sector. 38 out of 42 banks have already delivered towards this objective. In Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan implemented a Banking on Equality policy to encourage a shift towards women-friendly business practise in the financial sector. Over the three years of the policy, over 12 million previously unbanked women opened accounts.

As a network, we have done a lot already – 120 GIF-related policy and regulatory changes. However, we still see persistent gender gaps, usage and quality gaps, financing constraints for women-owned and led MSMEs, and insufficient sex disaggregated data sets. We need to sustain momentum, which is why we are actively seeking donor support for our GIF workstream. This is very important to us.

Now, I’ve been thinking about what next-generation financial inclusion will involve. I’ve tried to formulate it in one sentence, and it actually encapsulates what we’re doing here in this forum, and what we’ll be discussing in the next couple of days. Essentially, we are not looking simply at whether people can access financial services, but whether financial systems enable them to participate more fully in the economy, build resilience, improve their financial well-being, and ultimately generate inclusive prosperity. This is our focus.

Already, at this Forum, we have accomplished a great deal. The Inclusive Green Finance Compact was launched, along with the Consumer Empowerment and Market Conduct Policy Model.

While we see global fragmentation increasing, we are trying to form new partnerships of the like-minded, which can help us to achieve our next-generation financial inclusion ambitions. Developments in data systems, cloud computing, supervisory technology, cyber resilience and AI in financial services actually force us to form new partnerships, because regulators alone cannot identify and manage technology risks. We need to talk with and learn from the private sector, in order to shape effective policy responses.

In closing, let us take inspiration from the logo of this year’s GPF, which features the Bird of Paradise. To me, the Bird of Paradise symbolizes aspiration, transformation, and the pursuit of excellence. These qualities reflect the spirit of the AFI Global Policy Forum, and our collective journey to build financial systems that are inclusive, innovative, resilient, and sustainable. Whenever we look at it in the next couple of days, let us keep those thoughts in mind.