Government unveils new strategy to widen financial inclusion

MANILA, Philippines — The newly updated national financial inclusion strategy is expected to transform the country into a more financially inclusive and empowered society, according to the interagency Financial Inclusion Steering Committee.

FISC chairman and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said the newly launched National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2022-2028 would be the country’s financial inclusion blueprint for the next six years.

“The NSFI 2022-2028 signifies our greater collective commitment and aspiration for a more financially included and empowered citizenry,” Diokno said.

FISC revisited the original NSFI launched in July 2015 in order to reflect changing realities brought about by technological advances to the ongoing pandemic.

The original NSFI laid the foundations and guiding principles of an inclusive financial system with the goal of fostering public-private coordination and harmonizing policies and programs on financial inclusion in the country.

The new NSFI is focused on delivering four outcomes: reduced disparities in financial inclusion; improved health and resilience; more financially capable and empowered consumers and increased access to finance by micro, small and medium enterprises including startups, and the agriculture sector.

It also emphasizes financial resilience as a lens for the country’s financial inclusion work, recognizing that many Filipinos, especially the poor, are facing increased vulnerabilities from the health crisis, climate change, and inevitable shifts in the economic and labor landscape.

In a pre-recorded speech, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, commended the new strategy’s special emphasis on resilience and financial health.

Queen Maxima visited the Philippines in 2015 in her UN capacity for the launch of the first NSFI.

“I am hopeful that this new national financial inclusion strategy will serve as a key enabler in building a more resilient future for all Filipinos, as well as provide another shining example for other countries to emulate,” Queen Máxima said.

The FISC members and other financial inclusion champions from the government, private sector and development agencies also recited a pledge of commitment to the NSFI 2022-2028.

The pledge highlighted their affirmation to uphold the vision and goals of the NSFI by contributing to its successful implementation through meaningful and resonant initiatives in their respective sectors.

Under the Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, the BSP committed to raise the number of Filipino adults with bank accounts to 70 percent and shift 50 percent of total retail payments to electronic channels by 2023.

With the global health crisis serving as catalyst, the number of banked Filipino adults jumped to 53 percent as of the first quarter of 2021 from 29 percent in 2019, while the share of digital payments to total transactions increased to 20.1 percent in 2020 from only one percent in 2013.