World Bank analyzes the role of payments in increasing the availability of financial services

[Carding Forum]

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CPMI) and the World Bank have published a report on the role of payments in increasing the availability of financial services. The report analyzes the supply and demand factors affecting financial inclusion in the context of payment systems and services, and proposes solutions to the problems outlined.

Efforts to expand the availability of financial services - from a payments industry perspective - should aim to achieve a number of goals. Ideally, all individuals and entities should have access to and be able to use at least one checking account in a government-regulated payment system in order to carry out most (if not all) payment transactions, safely store their savings, and access others. financial services.

Benoit Queret, Board Member of the European Central Bank and Chairman of CPMI, noted that “Through this report, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure and the World Bank are making important contributions to improving the process of increasing financial inclusion. These efforts benefit not only those who lack access to financial services, but also the payment infrastructure of the countries of the world and, ultimately, their economies.”

The report outlines seven basic principles that should be followed by countries wishing to move forward in the process of financial integration in their markets by improving payments:

• active participation in this process of both public and private organizations;
• a robust regulatory framework that underpins financial integration;
• secure, efficient, widely available financial and information and telecommunication infrastructure;
• various types of accounts and payment products that satisfy all the needs for financial transactions;
• availability of a wide network of access points and compatible access channels;
• effective measures to improve financial literacy;
• using the most significant and constant payment flows, including remittances, to achieve the goals of expanding the availability of financial services.