Across sub-Saharan Africa, financial sectors face significant constraints to more formally serve consumers and facilitate inclusive growth. To address these challenges, the RRI programme focuses on three key financial market development areas in sub-Saharan Africa:
Where risk management (insurance) is concerned, the programme looks beyond the more traditional micro-insurance focus to broader insurance market development and the role of insurance in growth. Key themes include insurtech and its impact on market development, support to regulators to adapt to changing environments and the process of catalysing market development. Cenfri and FSD Africa are focusing on broadening the global discourse on inclusive insurance through building an evidence base, convening stakeholders and setting a new agenda for risk for development.
In remittance, the programme works to reduce average remittance costs and extend remittance flows by considering the constraints to the development of key corridors, the role of technology in overcoming such barriers, and the cash and last-mile realities that set the parameters for any intervention. Cenfri and FSD Africa are focusing on building a local evidence base on remittance and integrity to inform global guidelines and then supporting their effective implementation back at the country and regional level.
The integrity stream of the programme focuses on enabling inclusive integrity that promotes growth but does not come at the cost of inclusion. It supports financial-sector supervisors in implementing the FATF-required risk-based approach to reduce the levels of financial exclusion resulting from AML/CFT compliance in many SSA countries. Cenfri and FSDA are focusing on supporting innovation beyond mobile through helping the industry and regulators navigate and respond appropriately to emerging insurtech and fintech business models.
For more information on this programme, contact Barry Cooper or Mia Thom.