On 5 February, AFI’s Arab Region Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (ARFIPI) met virtually to discuss the development of a regional data platform. 

“One of the most important projects in the ARFIPI workplan is to respond to member institutions’ need for an accessible framework where reliable regional data and indicators can be centralized, and regularly updated, to support our role in designing, implementing and monitoring financial inclusion initiatives,” said Ibtissam El Anzaoui, chair of ARFIPI’s Expert Group on Financial Inclusion Policy, and Deputy Director of Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development at Bank Al-Maghrib. 

Chahrazade El Alaoui, Financial Inclusion Expert, Bank Al Maghrib, and Chair of AFI’s Financial Inclusion Data and Impact (FIDIWG) Working Group, presented an overview of FIDIWG’s activities and initiatives related to data collection and monitoring, while Luis Trevino, AFI’s Financial Inclusion Data Senior Policy Manager, presented the 84 AFI Data Portal indicators, with a view to identify common financial inclusion indicators that could be monitored through an Arab region data platform. 

“Arab region members have identified data policy as a top priority and highlighted the need to develop a framework of regional data and indicators to monitor the progress of financial inclusion in the region. This regional standardized data platform is an innovative, unique project in AFI, enhancing collaboration and communication within the region, and identifying expertise and best practices,” said Katia Mehanneche, AFI’s Regional Manager for the Arab region. 

“I’m very happy that we’ve taken this important decision of having a unified portal for the Arab region, to reflect our financial inclusion progress and indexes” said EGFIP vice chair Khaled Bassiouny, General Manager, Financial Inclusion Department, at Central Bank of Egypt. “I’m sure we will learn a lot during this journey.” 

A task force gathering data experts from the region will be launched soon to begin implementing the platform. 

You can learn more about ARFIPI’s 2025 workplan and activities here.