to the crisis. they have underpinned the rapid scaling up of support to vulnerable groups, by extending the reach of available social safety nets and providing new ways for mutual support within families and communities. in a few short months, covid - 19 has dramatically accelerated digitalization, achieving what we thought would take decades. in kenya, banks have enhanced the use of digital channels during the pandemic, to minimize the health risk and support stay - at - home protocols. before the pandemic, about 90 percent of bank transactions were conducted outside branches. since the onset of the pandemic, this has accelerated to over 94 percent of transactions. most notably, over 67 percent of transactions are now conducted on mobile phones, up from 55 percent before the pandemic. in rwanda, charges on all mobile money transactions were waived on march 19, 2020, for three months. by the end of april, the weekly value of mobile money transactions had increased by 450 percent. we are reminded of words by lenin, “ there are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. ” as we sketch the post - covid future, digitalization will be at the heart of everything we do, and turning back to today ’ s theme, sustainability will be indispensable for shared prosperity to be assured. sustainability can be usefully captured in the common “ 3ps ” definition : people, purpose and planet. the “ 3ps ” essentially respond to the question why corporations exist and what should be their heart and soul? covid - 19 has underscored a great truth — that corporations cannot prosper while the society they serve and the environment they operate in are endangered. simply put, the resilience of corporations is intertwined with the sustainability imperative. but is there a yardstick of success? the “ 3ps ” nexus is encapsulated in the united nations ’ sustainable development goals ( sdgs ), another core focus of this fintech week. as you are aware, the sdgs are global targets that were adopted by the un in 2015 aimed at achieving shared prosperity in a sustainable world by 2030. in the last few months, covid - 19 has adversely affected implementation of the sdgs particularly in health and education, wiping out years of progress towards the sdgs. a lot more needs to be done to get back on track. in november 2018, the unsg set up a task force on digital financing of the sdgs ( task

finance corporation at usd5. 2 trillion in developing countries alone. with the devastation wrought by covid - 19 on smes, we expect that this gap has widened. as we bring back our smes to life, digital practices will be core. we have already seen the increasing use of digital lending to smes based on business transaction histories, alternative data from mobile phones and other government public records. in kenya, a consortium of five banks launched a mobile - centric msme financing product dubbed stawi in november 2019. stawi provides “ anytime anywhere ” financing to msmes and will be a powerful weapon in our arsenal as we reimagine the post - covid posture of our msmes. second, building the foundations for sustainable digital ecosystems, which requires collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing three critical components : core connectivity infrastructure required to extend digital services across countries, and necessitating secure digital identity for citizens to connect to the digital infrastructure. creating an enabling market and regulatory framework that enables fintechs to scale up their innovations. enlightening citizens on their rights and protections in the digital realm. third, strengthening inclusive international governance. regulations and standards governing digital financing need to be informed by sdg commitments and goals, with a particular need to ensure that the sdgs inform the governance of a new generation of global digital financing platforms. the pandemic has accelerated the growth of global digital platforms particularly in e - commerce, payments and entertainment. this unprecedented growth has increased the market concentration enjoyed by the platforms. a critical concern is that this growth has been more technology - centric as opposed to being people - centric. the concerns particularly on data privacy and security are pertinent to emerging countries that may not be on the table in discussions on these platforms yet they are potentially their largest users. accordingly, the taskforce has mooted another pathfinder initiative, the international dialogue on global digital finance, spearheaded by kenya and switzerland. it seeks to facilitate a balanced and more inclusive dialogue, particularly involving developing nations, on sdg - aligned governance of global digital finance platforms. it will convene representatives from central banks, finance, trade and other relevant ministries, cross - sector regulatory bodies, non - state actors from developing countries, and representatives from key institutions such as the financial stability board, bank for international settlements, international monetary fund and the world bank. these three recommendations represent opportunities for establishing a global financial system that would support shared prosperity by focusing on people