With an emphasis on inclusive financial integrity, Cenfri provides technical assistance, tools and skills building to policymakers, regulators, supervisors and compliance heads looking to apply risk-based and outcomes accountable approaches to money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation-financing risk strategies. Combining our understanding of relevant risks, familiarity with the FATF guidelines, knowledge of identity and identity-proofing capabilities and leveraging our competency in risk data analytics, we support financial service value chains undertake assessments from national level to the financial product level, thereby enabling the adoption of appropriate customer due diligence practices. Cenfri is committed to assisting countries to move off the grey list responsibly, shaping national risk assessment processes with empirical data and working with remittance services’ compliance managers to ensure that low-income households are not disproportionately affected in receiving low-value remittances. We are interested in mitigating the longer-term impact of illicit financial flows using digital technology (regtech, suptech and AI) to evaluate and monitor illicit flows and enhance inclusive financial integrity. We have worked with BankServ Africa, FSD Africa, GIZ, IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances, UNCDF and AFI on a range of financial integrity and identity projects. |
Financial inclusion has evolved from a grass-root microfinance movement in the 1980s to a mainstream item on the development agenda. Its increasing prominence is attested, amongst others, by the formation of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the recognition of financial inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals and
Will CBDC solve your financial inclusion woes or further exclude the vulnerable? Central bank-backed digital currency (CBDC) may alleviate financial exclusion barriers, but it comes with risks. Given some of the shortcomings of digital financial services in reaching financially excluded populations, central banks in developing and emerging markets have increasingly
For regulators, the dual implications of innovation make it a critically important but challenging topic to address. Regulators with a mandate to encourage market development and sectoral growth are obliged to encourage innovative providers and products that help to drive this market development and enhance consumer value. However, regulators are
Ridwaan Boda and Era Gunning of ENSafrica answer questions about data privacy, data sharing and what related regulations mean for financial service providers in Africa. Do you think it is likely that the commencement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (EU) will: Result in any African countries
From 2009 to 2015 the proportion of adults, financially excluded from any financial service, decreased from 63% to 41% in Zambia, which exceeded the Zambian Government‘s national target of 50%. More than 14% of these adults now use mobile money services, whilst the largest growth has been in the use
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a key role in economic development, but they face challenges in accessing finance. In Uganda alone (as in most other sub-Saharan African countries), MSMEs account for approximately 90% of private-sector production, over 80% of manufactured output and 18% of GDP contribution (National Small Business Survey of Uganda, 2015; Ministry of Trade,
Johan Bosini, Quona Capital Venture Partner (Cape Town) shares his excitement about fintech developments and the associated data revolution in Africa. Which sources of data and analytics methods hold the most promise in extending financial services to the underserved in Africa? I think there are two broad opportunities – one
A better way to measure financial inclusion – see why we believe financial needs and usage matter. insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.
The five-year RRI programme is a partnership between FSD Africa and Cenfri. Its aim is to improve welfare and boost investment growth in sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this, it works to strengthen the integrity and risk management role of the financial sector and to facilitate remittance flows within and into
This note introduces a tool and approach to assist financial inclusion users in better understanding, interpreting and using their data. Adoption of this tool will enable the entire financial inclusion community to produce better research. This will increase credibility among users, as well as onlookers. Financial inclusion users often have to choose between the
Jonathan Zinman explains why he thinks further research is required in order better understand the drivers of decision-making and the ways in which technology can be used to test behaviourally inspired innovations. According to available research, which factors have proved to be the most powerful influencers of financial decision-making? This is
