Because it is a statutory mandate of the Central Bank in Malaysia, it has enabled Bank Negara to lead and drive the financial inclusion agenda with the support of our key domestic partners and stakeholders. With growing global concerns over rising inequality and the disproportionate impact of crises on the poor, there has been considerable focus by Governments and policymakers to ensure that no segment of society is left behind in participating and benefitting from the nation’s development. But what of the role of the financial services industry? It is worth noting that 14 out of the 17 SDGs include specific targets that focus at some level on the financial sector. To mention a few: On poverty: The SDGs include a specific target to build resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations; On hunger: Targets include doubling productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers through secure and equal access to financial services; On health and well-being: Ensure universal health coverage, including financial risk protection; On education: Ensure all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy; On decent work and economic growth: Encourage the formalisation and growth of micro and small and medium enterprises, including through access to financial services; On industry, innovation and infrastructure: Increase access of small scale industrial enterprises to financial services; and Of particular interest to this forum, on inequality: Reduce the transaction costs of migrant remittances to less than 3 per cent and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent.

In its report Sending Money Home, the International Fund for Agricultural Development estimates that about 1 billion people – migrants and their families – send and receive remittances. This translates to one in seven people in the world. The most dynamic growth in remittances over the past decade has been in Asia, which receives 55 per cent of all flows. In some countries, remittances equal more than 20 per cent of GDP. These statistics underscore the profound impact of remittances on development. For most migrants, the prospect of dealing with banks remains generally daunting. Non-bank remittance service providers (RSPs) on the other hand are trusted by migrants and a regular point of contact to send and receive money. This places them in a strategic position to evolve from narrow service providers to change agents for entire communities, by providing financial education and solutions that can help pull families out of poverty traps. For example, RSPs can partner with financial institutions in sending and recipient countries to create savings, insurance and investment products that are linked to migrant remittances. Some developing countries with large diaspora groups have successfully issued diaspora bonds, where the bond proceeds have been channeled to finance development projects in their home countries. Other innovations can surely be developed to more effectively leverage migrant resources for development. There is certainly no shortage of creativity and innovation in financial services. Regrettably, the Global Financial Crisis will remain a dark period of history where such creative forces were misdirected, with dire consequences for growth and development.