Only then, can financial institutions expect to support the low income and vulnerable segments of our communities as long-term partners to create opportunities that will improve lives. A clear picture of policymakers’ role in promoting an enabling environment for financial innovation and technology Finally, policymakers can play a meaningful role to promote an enabling environment for innovation to support financial inclusion initiatives. I shall focus on three areas. First, regulation should aim to be technology-neutral and outcome-focused, proportionate to risks and harmonized across sectors. A technology-neutral approach allows policymakers to assess the merits of innovations based on the outcomes, without fear or favour for the underlying technology. Regulation should be proportionate to the risks that products or institutions present to the broader financial system. This requires continued efforts to strengthen the capacity among national regulators and supervisors to assess the benefits and cost of regulation. Only then can we really move from proportionality as a concept to practice. Regulation between different sectors should also be harmonised to focus on activities that should be regulated, rather than the institutions conducting such activities. For example, if an e-commerce platform collects, pays interest on and mobilises deposits, a banking license may be necessary as public interest is involved. Second, communicating clear expectations to the market while incorporating feedbacks through engagements with the private sector is important.
Beyond the socio-economic demands, there is a moral obligation for us to do more to help the millions who are still living in abject poverty and highly vulnerable to financial hardship, with no means to change their circumstances. This global symposium presents an opportunity for us to explore solutions from different perspectives. I see this as having “an eye for innovation”. Indeed policy makers are now improving their capabilities in technology and innovation, recruiting talent, establishing dedicated team and intensifying partnership with the private sector, to help them see things a little differently. While there is no shortage of ideas on new and innovative ways to increase financial inclusion, the key challenge to my mind is the ability to scale up and achieve sustainability. The symposium’s theme refers to “harnessing innovation”, but one needs to truly understand innovation in order to successfully tap on such innovation to attain the dual objectives of scale and sustainability in inclusive finance. With that in view, my remarks this morning will focus on three areas where an eye for innovation is needed: a. First, putting on a new lens to spot the opportunities from existing innovations that can be tailored to financial inclusion;  b. Second, identifying and working on our blind spots by driving efficiency gains with technology-enabled financial inclusion; and  c.  Third, having a clear picture of the policymakers’ role in promoting an enabling environment for financial innovation and technology.