MAS collaborates with United Nations to drive financial inclusion in ASEAN

Opportunities for the digitisation of low-tier financial institutions will be explored.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced its collaboration with United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to facilitate development and access to digital financial services in the ASEAN region.

Formed under the ongoing UNCDF's Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT) programme, the partnership will explore opportunities to work on digitisation of low-tier financial institutions in the region, particularly in extending last-mile distribution to the base of the pyramid in such markets.

According to a joint statement released by MAS and UNCDF, the partnership will give them the means to rapidly digitise the operations of these Financial Service Providers, enabling them to better aid financial access and usage to serve the marginalised population, including women in these countries.

The first initiative under the collaboration will see MAS as a Supporting Partner of UNCDF SHIFT’s latest Challenge Fund Window. The Fund provides co-funding grants for innovative, scalable business models that foster regulated international remittances to Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) for women, and concurrently increase adoption and usage of remittance-linked financial products and services in CLMV.

Remittances for these four countries contributed US$17.2b. The growing influx of international remittances to CLMV is playing a significant role in economic development in the Mekong region, and can act as a catalyst for the development of the local digital financial services ecosystem by providing greater access to basic financial services.

The mechanism incentivises innovations in women-inclusive business models that financial institutions would not ordinarily be prepared to pursue.