years. an initiative which began as a simple approach of improving and deepening rural credit has slowly got transformed into an all - inclusive programme for building financial and technological capabilities in rural india. 4. over time, the bouquet of services under micro finance fold has expanded from only credit and thrift products to include micro insurance, micro pension, micro remittances, digital payments, amongst others. this development suggests a recognition of the importance of other financial services and the industry orientation, moving from lending to lower - income groups to pursuing the double objectives of social benefits with financial viability. thus, while serving the underprivileged, microfinance also presents an opportunity for expanding the benefits of financial developments to those at the bottom of the pyramid. 5. when microfinance activities gained prominence in the 1990s, rbi recognized it as a new paradigm with immense potential and has been very supportive of its growth. when the need for regulating the mfis was felt in early 2000s, a view was taken that mfis are significantly different from other financial institutions – both in terms of institutional structure and product portfolio and needed to be regulated differently. since then, our approach has been to carve out a distinct regulatory regime for these institutions in alignment with the specific nuances of the sector without diluting the principles of prudence, financial stability and customer interest. 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches 6. one key milestone in the evolution of this regulatory framework was the constitution of the committee under the chairmanship of shri y. h. malegam. based on the recommendations of this committee, rbi introduced a comprehensive regulatory framework for nbfc - mfis in december 2011. the regulations prescribed the eligibility criteria for microfinance loans which was linked to core features of microfinance i. e., lending of small amounts to borrowers belonging to low - income groups without collateral, with flexible repayment schedules. besides, the regulations laid special emphasis on protection of borrowers and fair practices in lending such as transparency in charges, ceilings on margins and interest rates, non - coercive methods of recovery, measures to contain multiple lending and over - indebtedness. 7. indian microfinance sector has witnessed phenomenal growth over past two decades in terms of increase in both – the number of institutions providing micro finance as also the quantum of credit made available to the micro finance customers. presently, micro credit is delivered through a variety of institutional channels viz., scheduled commercial banks

acpr - amf fintech forum – paris, 16 october 2023 fintechs : at the forefront of “ new frontiers ” speech by francois villeroy de galhau, governor of the banque de france chairman of the acpr press contacts : mark deen ( mark. deen @ banque - france. fr ), deborah guedj ( deborah. guedj @ banquefrance. fr ) page 1 sur 6 ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased to welcome you to the banque de france for this third edition of the fintech forum, organised jointly by the acpr and the amf. i would like to extend a friendly greeting to marie - anne barbat - layani, president of the amf. today, all banks and insurers are working in partnership with one or more innovative players, and therefore operating with a more open architecture. once again, this is something to be celebrated : if existing players and fintechs were not capable of innovating, and innovating together, then the bigtechs would ultimately “ sweep the board ”. i am well aware that the french fintech week, of which our forum is a part, is taking place this year in an environment that is probably less favourable than in previous years ; the banque de france and acpr are therefore working even harder to support the innovative financial ecosystem ( i ), notably to help them better master the “ new frontiers ” of cryptoassets and climate risk ( ii ). i. the banque de france and acpr continue to stand firmly alongside the innovative ecosystem 1. a less favourable economic environment for the financing and creation of fintechs as i was saying, the environment this year is less favourable for fintechs, with one very telling figure : the amount of capital raised by fintechs was about 60 % lower in the first half of 2023 than in the same period in 2022, i when it admittedly reached a record high in a context of record low interest rates. the drop was also slightly larger than the fall of about 50 % in the total amount of venture capital raised in france. ii although fintechs no longer top the ranks in terms of major capital raising operations, they are still as numerous, if not more so, in attracting investment. this trend, which is similar to that observed in germany and the united kingdom, is being interpreted by professional associations as a possible sign of maturity. page