Chandula to address cross border micro finance sessions at APEC

Chairman of the Banking With the Poor Network and Deputy General Manager, Development Banking of Hatton National Bank, Chandula Abeywickrema, has been invited to share the lead session on cross-border micro finance at the APEC Financial Inclusion Forum to be held in China shortly.

The Asia Pacific Forum and the Financial Inclusion is jointly organised by the Asian Development Bank, Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Centre and APEC Business Advisory Council in collaboration with the Banking With The Poor Network, China Association of Microfinance, Citi Foundation and the Foundation for Development Cooperation.

The Forum will focus on approaches, regulations and cross-border issues on the financial inclusion.

Abeywickrema, is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Banking With The Poor Network, which is the largest Asia based micro finance network. He is also an independent Director of Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Ltd, which is one of the largest micro finance companies in Cambodia.

He also serves in a number of international organisations working towards financial inclusion and micro finance. With his wide international exposure and expertise on financial inclusion, he would address some of the key initiatives on cross-border micro finance.

Financial Inclusion is an important tool in poverty reduction efforts. In the Past decade, microfinance institutions showed tremendous success in outreaching and serving poor. Millions of people with low income had a chance to improve their lives. According to statistics about 80 percent of households in the world are still excluded from the formal financial services. Developing the outreach practices by improving their quality is main direction of capacity development activities in the region.

Governments play a crucial role in promoting or hindering the development of microfinance. Recent stories of predatory microfinance in some South Asian countries demonstrated acute importance of development of financial services with a very careful analysis and ethic approach.

The role of policymakers is to develop a balanced regulatory system that encourages MFIs for expansion and self-sustainability and the same time to protect consumers from predatory lending and harassment.

Among others the increasing financial literacy and improving availability of information are the crucial factors in development resilient financial inclusion policies. Under the leading role of government agencies the active involvement in the process of other stakeholders such as financial institutions, trade associations, civil society organisations and educational institutions is needed.