LIBERIA:CBL GOV RAPS ON ROLE OF DFS

The inaugural session of the national Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG) has been launched in Monrovia, with Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) Executive Governor, Mr. Milton A.Weeks, stressing the critical role Digital Financial Services (DFS) plays in promoting financial inclusion.

Governor Weeks noted that DFS will expand the delivery of basic financial services to the poor through innovative technologies like mobile-phone-enabled solutions, electronic money modules and digital payments platforms. Digital channels, the CBL Executive Governor indicated can drive down costs for customers and service providers and open the door to remote and under-served populations.

Governor Weeks noted that financial regulators around the world have realized the tremendous role DFS can play for financial inclusion by creating enabling environments for digital financial services. The CBL Executive Governor was speaking Tuesday in Monrovia, when he delivered the opening remarks at the official launching for the Digital Financial Services Working Group. 

Digital Financial Services, the Governor stressed, leads to digital financial inclusion, adding that such services should be suited to customers’ needs and delivered responsibly, at a cost both affordable to customers and sustainable for providers. Mr. Weeks reiterated that the CBL has begun expansion of financial inclusion through the creation of more Rural Community Financial Institutions, credit unions and micro-finance institutions.

“This expansion intends to address the fundamentals of having access to finance while enabling the unbanked population to form part of the mainstream financial system,” Governor Weeks indicated. He assured participants that the DFS Working Group will actively support ongoing peer-to peer learning efforts and provide an ideal platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences. The DFSWG is a joint initiative of the CBL and the Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) program of the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). In separate remarks, The Deputy Country Director of UNDP, Mr. CleophasTorori, and USAID’s Mission Director Anthony Chan, assured the CBL of their institutions’ support in ensuring that the DFSWG achieves the objectives for which it was set up.

SOURCE:THENEWDAWNLIBERIA