UNCDF gets onboard the mobile revolution with its first interactive publication downloadable on your iPads or Androids! This Outcome Report which follows a consultation meeting with key Southern market-leaders and partners in Financial Inclusion and makes key recommendations for advancing Financial Inclusion in the ASEAN region.

Developing economies are increasingly organizing themselves in regional blocs to strengthen their ability to reap the rewards of a globalized world, as well as enhance cooperation among neighboring countries. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which provides a collective voice to its 10 member states, is moving towards greater economic integration and the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) with common rules to maximize the benefits of integration. As the integration process evolves, there is growing recognition of the need to address the disparities between and within the member states to not only accelerate economic growth and power of the AEC but to also spread the benefits of a common market more equitably across all nations, especially the less developed and more recent entrants to the community, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).

ASEAN leaders have adopted financial integration as one of the key drivers of the ASEAN Economic Community. However, there is now growing recognition that measures for financial integration alone are unlikely to achieve equitable growth without measures to ensure financial inclusion.

UNCDF convened Southern market leaders and partners in Financial Services for the Poor to seek inputs and gain country-specific insights to initiate the development of a regional strategy. We are pleased to share the digital outcome report which provides an analysis of supply and demand factors and key recommendations for a regional programme of work, which can be downloaded on your iPads and Android devices.

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