Alfred Hannig: open finance can accelerate digital financial inclusion when country conditions taken into account

On 20 November, AFI CEO Dr Alfred Hannig led a panel session discussing open finance’s potential to foster financial inclusion, at a workshop in Basel co-organised by the Financial Stability Institute of the Bank for International Settlements, CGAP, and the World Bank.

In an open finance system, customers can choose to allow their data to be shared between financial services providers, giving them the possibility to compare and select between various products and services. The session in Basel explored the different open finance architecture options available to countries, and featured insight from Mirriam Kamuhuza, Director of Payment Systems at Bank of Zambia, which is exploring open finance as part of its new national payment systems strategy.

“Open finance creates exciting new possibilities for the traditionally underserved to access a broader range of formal financial products and services, and on better terms,” said Dr Hannig. “It will also stimulate the development of products and services which better meet their needs.”

Dr Hannig cautioned, however, based on a recently completed survey by AFI’s Digital Financial Services Working Group, that in regions where digital infrastructure is weak or access to technology is limited, open finance could actually widen the gap between those with access to digital financial services, and those without. Dr. Hannig and Ms. Kamuzha were joined on the panel by Jan Van Vonno, Head of Industry & Wallets at Visa, and Abbas Albasha, Senior Strategy Consultant, Giesecke+Devrient.

The event follows a similar 2023 workshop organized by AFI and BIS’s Financial Stability Institute, which explored the implications of the growth in digital assets for financial inclusion.