The Government of Luxembourg has extended its cooperation agreement with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) to support inclusive and sustainable policies and regulations in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
The signing of the second phase of the agreement was held at the Luxembourg House of Startups (HoST) and House of Financial Technology (LHoFT) on Monday 27 March.
The partnership between the Government of Luxembourg and AFI will also support the expansion of technical cooperation and knowledge exchange between policymaking and regulatory authorities in the AFI network and partners across Luxembourg’s inclusive finance ecosystem.
In addition, Luxembourg’s finance ministry and AFI signed a cooperation agreement to advance financial inclusion of vulnerable groups in Africa and the Arab Region via the second phase of AFI’s Multi-Donor Financial Inclusion Policy Implementation Facility (MD-PIF).
Luxembourg’s partnership with AFI, which was launched in October 2020, and has proved beneficial. The country’s reputable financial inclusion ecosystem has helped fill important regulatory knowledge gaps while creating opportunities for insight exchange on converging policy priorities. Among these is a shared interest in advancing Inclusive FinTech and Inclusive Green Finance (IGF), a policy area that AFI has championed. Partnerships such as these offer important opportunities for AFI and the Government of Luxembourg to scale financial inclusion.
AFI member institutions have granted up to 841 million people access to financial products and services, driving significant change in the lives of the world’s poor and unbanked.
The policies and regulations developed and implemented by AFI provide quality digital financial services; strengthen consumer protection and consumer empowerment; improve access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); advance financial inclusion data; and support the development and implementation of national financial inclusion strategies.
The event was attended by Luxembourg’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Franz Fayot, Minister of Finance, Yuriko Backes, AFI’s Executive Director, Dr. Alfred Hannig, and LHoFT CEO, Nasir Zubairi, with AFI’s Global Partnerships and Europe Director, Ilya Sverdlov serving as moderator of the event.
