syed salim raza : need for alternative delivery channels in promoting access to finance speech by mr syed salim raza, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the pakistan branchless banking conference 2010, karachi, 17 april 2010. * * * dr. muhammad yasin, chairman pakistan telecommunication authority, mr. ali arshad hakeem, chairman nadra, mr. haroon sharif, regional advisor dfid, distinguished speakers, ladies and gentlemen, 1. on behalf of sbp, may i extend a very warm welcome to all, to pakistan ’ s branchless banking conference 2010. today ’ s forum has participants from diverse backgrounds, from the banking, microfinance, and telecommunication sectors, as well as donors and government agencies, setting the stage for a creative and fruitful working session. 2. there are about 4 billion unbanked people 1 in the world, which is more than twothirds of the population of low and middle - income countries. in pakistan, the ratio of financial exclusion is even higher. in spite of the availability of an enabling policy environment, and government and donors - supported incentives, the existing outreach is about 12 %. it is in our greatest self interest to develop inclusive financial systems which provide low income and marginalized communities with increased access to viable financial services, thus allowing them to become a critical component in, and contribute to, the country ’ s economic development. alternative delivery channels 3. traditionally, the provision of financial services to the low income population is often based on personal, one - to - one relationships, making it human resource intensive. thus, financial institutions have to incur high costs for building and maintaining branch networks and developing trained personnel. alternative delivery channels can reduce these costs and offer a balance between personalized services and emerging transactional services, such as mobile banking. research conducted by the cgap technology program in 2008 found that using third - party agents costs on average 30 times less globally and 76 times less in pakistan and replacing them with a mobile phone further cuts costs in half. 2 the most common of these delivery channels include mobile phones, third party agents, and use of pos terminals. 4. in addition to significant cost reduction, alternative delivery channels expand outreach to areas in which the traditional bricks and mortar approach is unfeasible, and also increases product diversification by making savings and remittance products convenient, efficient and profitable. on the client side, such delivery channels provide unprecedented convenience through remote payments.

ashraf mahmood wathra : promoting innovative rural and agriculture finance in pakistan welcome address by mr ashraf mahmood wathra, acting governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the launching ceremony of the financial innovation challenge fund 2nd challenge round on “ promoting innovative rural and agriculture finance in pakistan ”, islamabad, 6 march 2014. * * * hon ’ ble federal minister for finance, revenue, economic affairs and privatization, senator muhammad ishaq dar, his excellency uk high commissioner, mr. philip barton, head of dfid pakistan, mr. richard montgomery, distinguished guests, speakers, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, assalamu alaikum and very good morning! i would like to express my gratitude to all the distinguished guests : the chief guest, honorable finance minister senator ishaq dar, representatives from the diplomatic community, development partners and agencies, government officials, agriculture chambers, representative of all banks, non - governmental organizations and agriculture sector stakeholders for joining us today. it is my great pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to all of you to this auspicious ceremony held to commence the launch of 2nd challenge round of financial innovation challenge fund, aiming to promote financial innovation for development of rural and agriculture sectors in pakistan. ladies and gentlemen! to quote thomas edison “ there ’ s a way to do it better – find it ” while defining innovation, this quotation clearly emphasizes on doing things in a unique and better way. therefore, tackling poverty also demands fundamental rethinking and innovation. the alleviation of poverty is a universal goal, to ensure prosperity, we as a society need to focus on inclusive growth, which requires fundamental innovation in designing financial models aimed at the poor segment of the society. distinguished guests! improving financial access to alleviate poverty is a global challenge. more than 2 billion adults in the world do not have access to formal or semi - formal financial services. at the same time, one billion people with mobile phones do not have even a basic bank account. as the costs of information and communications technology have now shrunk, the time is ripe for using technology to address financial exclusion. therefore, financial inclusion is one of the key pillars of the g - 20 ’ s development agenda. the g20 leaders at their korea summit in 2010 included “ innovation ” as one of the key principles for promoting financial inclusion. while urging the developing countries to cultivate a broad based government commitment to financial inclusion to help alleviate poverty, the