About the Workshop on Global Digital Finance Development and Governance & Launch Ceremony of the Global Center for Digital Finance

It was a great honor to be invited by the People's Bank of China and the National Internet Finance Association to join them and co-sponsor the World Bank Group at this most interesting one day workshop in Hangzhou on October 29th, 2019.  The main purpose of the workshop was to inaugurate the new Global Center for Digital Finance sponsored by these three important institutions.  Its establishment is follow up from the High Level Policy Principles to Promote Digital Financial Inclusion that were produced by China as one of the signature products of its G20 Presidency in 2016.  It’s great to see tangible initiatives such as this new institution (and the SME Finance Forum) coming out of the G20 work. This shows that this new body is not just about talk, it’s also about concrete actions.

The workshop featured high level keynote speeches from PBOC, NIFA, the Hangzhou Municipality and Zhejiang Provincial Government representatives, as well as from the Vice Presidency for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) of the World Bank Group.  As one of the keynote speakers, my intervention focused on digital financial inclusion for SMEs, discussing about what a center of this kind might focus on helping share good practice and promote networking among both regulators and industry. I talked about the importance of working on data governance, including building on the key credit infrastructure work the G20 has promoted through its SME Finance Action Plan. I also noted the SME Finance Forum’s readiness to welcome our new “younger sister” into the world, and help them in any way we can!

The workshop was attended by senior representatives from the impressive digital finance industry of China, including members Ant Financial and Experian, and other key industry players such as WeBank, Postal Savings Bank of China, and PICC Insurance (one of the leading credit insurance providers). G20 representatives from Bank Indonesia and the Australian Treasury were also speakers. The new institution still needs to staff up and set its initial priorities, but this meeting got it off to a great start.