As Prepared for Delivery

Good morning and greetings to you all. It is my pleasure and privilege to address all of you today. On behalf of the UN Capital Development Fund, allow me to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation for your support of the Pacific Islands Fintech Innovation Challenge. The Fintech Innovation Challenge is a culmination of months of hard work and commitment by UNCDF’s team in the Pacific, together with the colleagues from the Market Development Facility and the Asian Development Bank.Your support towards the Challenge is much appreciated and we look forward to working closely with you over the next three days and of course for the months ahead, when it is time to implement the solutions.

I would like to extend a special acknowledgement to the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, who are the principal donors of the Challenge and longtime supporters of UNCDF’s work in the Pacific: High Commissioner: Please convey our thanks to Canberra for your government’s continued support.

I would like to personally acknowledge the presence of Hon. Vivian Balakrishnan and His Excellency Henry Puna. I would also like to acknowledge New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore, Her Excellency Jo Tyndall; Ambassador Mary Seet-Cheng, Singapore High Commissioner to the Pacific Islands Forum; Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Mr Ariff Ali and Governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, Dr Luke Forau.

Your presence here today means a lot to us, and we look forward to building upon the partnerships we form today connecting Singapore, the Pacific islands, Australia and New Zealand. Through Australia and New Zealand’s support, UNCDF is developing a more financially inclusive Pacific region in pursuit of economic prosperity and resilience.

Ever since 2008, UNCDF helped more than two million low-income Pacific islanders gain access to formal financial services and financial education. We have supported innovative financial services projects, such as the biometric banking system in Papua New Guinea that helped thousands of women, many of whom are illiterate, to access their bank accounts using fingerprint readers. We have supported the development and implementation of various policy and regulatory initiatives, such as the National Financial Inclusion Strategies in several Pacific countries. This includes, more recently, the Pacific Regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap.

Perhaps most importantly, we supported consumer empowerment initiatives, such as the Financial Education Project that involved embedding Financial Education (FinEd) within the primary and secondary curricula in Fiji. This project helped equip Fiji’s future generations with knowledge about how to save, budget, invest and grow their earnings. These are just some initiatives we have championed over the last decade or so, and our footprint will only grow in the coming years. Be assured that you will see more and more UNCDF initiatives in the coming months and years, especially with regard to building inclusive digital economies.

Since 2008, we have noticed a gradual increase in the uptake of digital financial solutions in the Pacific. This includes increased usage and uptake of e-commerce and digital payments, such as through mobile money and cards. While this might be a welcome development, we are still confronted with the issue of exclusion from the financial system. In many cases this is exacerbated by a growing digital divide. To realize the region’s true economic potential, it is critical that digital developments are inclusive and do not leave anyone behind.

Let me close with the message I would like to leave with the Fintechs participating in this Innovation Challenge: When designing your solutions, please keep in mind that these are for communities that are literally living “at the last mile” of the market and are more often than not deprived from basic financial services. By joining this Challenge, you can count on our support and considerable experience in this area. I wish you all the best for the Challenge and urge you not hesitate to liaise with one of my UNCDF colleagues in the room should you require any support. Thank you.