Barry Whiteside: Promoting and supporting greater financial inclusion in Fiji
Address by Mr Barry Whiteside, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, at the launch of the
inaugural Microfinance Awards, Suva, 2 September 2013.
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National Financial Inclusion Taskforce Members
Microfinance Working Group Members
Our Co-Sponsors of the Microfinance Awards: Life Insurance Corporation of India and
the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introductory comments
Good morning and bula vinaka to you all.
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the launch of the first national Microfinance
Awards.
The decision to host a Microfinance Awards this year is something that we at the Reserve
Bank have been contemplating for some time. We believe that greater recognition needs to
be given to those special individuals and micro enterprises that play a critical role in
alleviating poverty, providing employment and income to many needy families, particularly
those living below the poverty line. They are also an important component and complement
the national efforts to promote and support greater financial inclusion.
The Microfinance Awards are an initiative of the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce. The
National Financial Inclusion Taskforce, ladies and gentlemen, is a national committee that
was set up in 2010 and represents stakeholders from the public and private sector, the donor
agencies, Micro Finance Institutions and NGOs, with the goal of extending financial services
to 150,000 unbanked people by the year 2014. I am pleased to report that as of 30 June
2013 we have now achieved 87 percent of this target. The NFIT has three working groups
that help achieve its objective, namely the; Financial Literacy Working Group, Statistics
Working Group and the Microfinance Working Group.
The purpose of us having these awards is to:
•
Promote the micro enterprise sector;
•
Encourage local value adding of our resources;
• To encourage self-employment; and, most importantly
•
To recognize successful, innovative and creative micro entrepreneurs at a national
level.
Microfinance awards
The inaugural Microfinance awards include 3 main categories:
1. Best Microfinance Entrepreneur - Individual;
2. Best Microfinance Entrepreneur - Partnership; and
3. Best Microfinance Service Provider.
These awards include enterprises with a total turnover of less than $30,000 per annum.
Development front in the micro sector
Through these awards we hope that more people, young and old, rural and urban dwellers,
will be encouraged to find opportunities for themselves and their families by starting a
business.
We believe that with an enabling regulatory policy environment and with access to affordable
financial services, individuals and micro-enterprises will have the opportunity to flourish and
bloom. Like a small seedling, a budding micro-enterprise can in the right environment put
down strong roots and grow over time.
In the same way, micro-enterprises when managed well and in the right environment will not
remain micro. They can always grow into small businesses and later on graduate to medium
and large enterprises. Many of our own local millionaires and renowned large companies in
Fiji like Punjas, Vinod Patel, Tappoos, Marco Polo, and Joes Farm, just to mention a few, all
started from very humble beginnings. Thinking about these companies and how they all
started brings hope to those wanting to start a business. You can always start small; the key
is hard work, perseverance and prudence.
Allow me to mention some of the policy initiatives that RBF has recently implemented to
create a more inclusive financial sector.
In early 2010, under Banking Supervision Policy Statement 14, all commercial banks were
directed to set up microfinance units at every branch to cater for the low income earners and
especially those in the informal sector. I am pleased to report that the total value of micro
deposits held by the commercial banks at 30 June 2013 was $40.3million.
This was followed by the launch of mobile money services in June and July 2010. The mobile
money ecosystem continues to expand across Fiji and is becoming an accepted mode of
payment and offers many services similar to a bank. A wide range of services is available
through mobile phones, such as bill payments, international remittances, domestic transfers,
online shopping payments, savings, insurance repayments, payment for judicial fines,
payment for municipal council services and payment of wages and salaries of civil servants.
These new financial services, we believe, have created more opportunities for financial
services providers and their clients to transact and conduct business with each other through
the mobile phone. For example, one of the four microfinance institutions operating in Fiji
today offers loan disbursements to their clients, or clients can make their loan repayments
using their mobile phones. Other exciting developments that are expected to be
transformational for business in Fiji include the opportunity for farmers with the use of their
mobile phones to post their crops they have ready for sale online and negotiate with potential
buyers directly from their farm gate.
Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank issued Agent Banking Guidelines to guide the
commercial banks in the establishment of agent networks that will assist them in their
delivery of financial services to unbanked communities. The objective is to encourage
commercial banks to reach out and provide basic banking services to the underserved
communities and individuals and entrepreneurs in the rural and maritime areas, with little or
no access to regular banking services, through localised agents such as retail merchants or
postal agencies. This will allow those who are living far from the main urban centres where
bank branches are generally located, to be able to deposit or withdraw money from their
bank accounts and also receive money from their families or friends based both locally and
abroad, or make payments at these retail agents.
Our national achievements and progress towards inclusive development for the financial
sector have been made possible through the collaboration and support of our development
partners. I wish to highlight and mention here the tremendous contribution that the Pacific
Financial Inclusion Programme and Life Insurance Corporation of India have provided over
the past few years. With theirs and other stakeholders support and initiative, Fiji has gained
through the integration of financial education into the school curriculum and new micro
insurance products to name a few.
The Reserve Bank has organized over 16 expositions around the country with the last rural
expo in Kadavu in July. This platform is playing an important role in coordinating actions of
NGOs, donors, financial institutions and government ministries in promoting microfinance
and also providing entrepreneurial and financial literacy training. In brief, the expos make
financial inclusion a reality by taking the services to the underserved communities.
Official launch
Ladies and Gentlemen in concluding, let me thank the Life Insurance Corporation of India
and the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme for their valuable contributions and for
partnering with the Reserve Bank in co-sponsoring our microfinance awards. The Awards
presentation will be held in conjunction with the Microfinance Pacific Week later in October
this year at the Sheraton Resort.
I take this opportunity to wish this year's candidates all the very best and I now have much
pleasure in officially launching the first ever Microfinance Awards.
Thank you