I attended #AsiaFinanceForum where central banks and regulators in Asia gathered at the Asian Development Bank in Manila last week. See the thread for what was discussed and my takeaways.

Here’s a brief summary of what was discussed first:
The topic this year is inclusive finance. In order to achieve financial inclusion, @RamaSridharMA in her presentation has identified the people who are being excluded from the financial system.

An estimate of 1.7 billion people is outside of the banking and financial system. (Source: @GlobalFindex)They tend to pay high fees and trust risky systems for simple transactions.

For the underbanked or unbanked, they tend to rely on cash or barter for necessities and they are locked out of technological advances and advantages.

Some are included in the financial system but excluded digitally. They tend to be elderly and poor due to lack of access to local branches, inability to make a payment, and lack of education.

Separately, another set of statistics show that there is a huge gap between financing needs and what is available in Asia. In terms of the funding gap for small to medium-sized business owners, it is estimated to be $2.4 trillion. (Source: @IFC_org)

So, what does this mean?

It means that there is a huge untapped potential in Asia. More than 80% population have not used the internet to pay bills. Full digitization in ASEAN & India could add US$2T to regional GDP by 2025. Source: @RamaSridharMA

How do we build a more inclusive financial system then?

A country needs to:
1. issue national ID so its people can establish credit score and access various financial services & tools
2. Improve the financial literacy of its people
3. An understanding of technology to access services such as internet banking

Even so, some countries face the following challenges:
-Lack of trust in government when it comes to issuing national ID
-Low financial literacy
-Lack of knowledge about technology
-Poor internet connection
We can overcome these challenges by taking the following approach:

Longer-term approach: financial literacy should be taught in school. When the education started young, they can learn and positively influence their family members

Shorter-term approach: u2028improve digital literacy

Here are my 8 takeaways:
1. The world is going digital, whether you like it or not.
2. Not all countries are caught up with the latest technologies
3. Financial and technology literacy should be taught in school. It's not just individuals that need to learn and adopt, but also

4. There is a need for the banking sector to catch up with the latest technologies
5. Disruption will be more about forming partnerships and an ecosystem rather than competing with each other.

6. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Even so, it was interesting to hear someone on the stage describing cryptocurrencies as a distraction. I imagine few people would say “AI or automation is a waste of time. Let us not bother with that new technology.”

7. The panel on digital ID & biometric was the most interesting one with the discussion about privacy and data ownership which I will probably tweet another time
8. The issue with financial inclusion can't be solved in one day, but if we take a step at a time, we can get there.

Maker's goal is to give everyone access to the same financial resources and opportunities. That's what keeps me going everyday.

Overall, it was an incredible experience visiting Manila and attending the conference. Thank you @ADB_HQ for inviting us @MakerDAO to showcase #Dai.