Financial Inclusion Regulation Center launched by CGAP

Saturday, August 21, 2010, 16:38
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Microfinance Focus, Aug 21, 2010: Plugging the information gap on financial inclusion laws and regulations, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) has launched a Financial Inclusion Regulation Center, which provides a broad, timely collection of the laws and regulations most relevant to key financial inclusion topics.

The Regulation Center includes detailed profiles on nearly 30 countries across the globe. These profiles provide an overview of the financial inclusion regulatory environment, and a selection of laws and regulations related to microfinance and banking, branchless banking, and consumer protection for each country.

Each law or regulation is briefly summarized, and a copy of the legal text is provided. Links to government regulatory bodies and recommended reading related to financial inclusion are also included in the country profiles.

“The Regulation Center is a unique resource for financial sector regulators and supervisors, donors and investors, academics and researchers, and any others seeking information on financial inclusion regulatory policy,” says Tim Lyman, senior policy advisor and team leader of CGAP’s Government and Policy Team. “It provides both convenient summaries and core regulatory texts, and serves as a great complement to CGAP’s broader policy research and advisory work.”

The topics covered in the laws and regulations include banking laws, microfinance laws, cooperative and credit union laws, prudential regulations, anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism laws, agent regulations, E-money regulations and consumer protection laws and regulations.

The information in the Regulation Center was gathered primarily through online desk research performed by lawyers and law students and, where possible, vetted by local experts. A number of sources were utilized, including central bank websites, online legal databases, and a wide variety of research reports, news articles, and publications. The core content builds off of a previous joint project by CGAP and the IRIS Center, the Microfinance Regulation and Supervision Resource Center.

“Online legal information in developing countries is often very difficult to find,” says Jennifer Chien, manager of the Regulation Center. “The main value of this site is in pulling together an extensive body of laws and regulations in one location that are carefully selected for importance, in a format that is easily accessible and allows for comparison across countries.”

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Tags: CGAP, consumer protection, E-Money, Financial inclusion, microfinance

3 Comments on “Financial Inclusion Regulation Center launched by CGAP”

Arvind Ashta wrote on 21 August, 2010, 20:56
This is absolutely brilliant news. A fews months ago I tried to write a paper on mobile banking regulation and had to be satisfied with the little that I found. Now, I’m really excited to look at all this.
Christian Mboho wrote on 22 August, 2010, 13:10
I am delighted about this as it would enable practitioners and stakeholders access to wider range of policies and frameworks for easy practice. For us in Africa we would be able to compare note and make adjustments where necessary. I am trying to get the guide to access the 30 country platforms .
Graziosi Ascanio wrote on 22 August, 2010, 15:27
This a very useful link for practitioners and insiders for a multipurpose use while positioning a MFI in a country’s financial market. A discussed this issue in my recent contribution:
Proposed guidelines for microfinance industry
http://www.microfinanceassociation.org/page.aspx?id=71&nId=90