CGAP Welcomes G20's Commitment to Innovative Financial Inclusion to Help the World's Poor

G20 Endorsement Adds Momentum for Innovation to Broaden Financial Access

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2010 - CGAP, an independent policy and research center dedicated to access to
finance for the world's poor, welcomed this weekend's announcement
(g20.gc.ca ) by the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders that they have developed
a set of "Principles for Innovative Financial Inclusion"
(g20.gc.ca/toronto-summit/summit-documents/principles-for-innovative-financial-inclusion )
that will support efforts to accelerate the delivery of financial services to
the poor using innovative approaches.

"One billion people with mobile phones do not have even a basic bank
account," said Alexia Latortue, CGAP's Acting Chief Executive Officer. "The
G20 Principles for Innovative Financial Inclusion encourage policy makers to
harness the potential of new approaches such as branchless banking to reach
the more than 2.7 billion
(www.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.38735/FA2009.pdf) people globally who
are unable to open a bank account, get insurance, or receive loans that would
help them save for the future, and invest in their homes or businesses."

The principles developed by the G20 Leaders emphasize, among other
factors, the need for strong leadership, product diversity, proper incentives
for financial institutions, and sound consumer protection in innovating for
financial inclusion. "The G20 Leaders' backing will go a long way to
encourage both policy makers and the private sector to be innovative yet
prudent in their approach to reaching poor people around the world," added
Latortue.

CGAP served as a technical expert to the G20 team that worked on the
principles, drawing on lessons learned from more than four years of work
under the Technology Program at CGAP as well as responses to a survey
conducted by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (www.afi-global.org)
and input from a diverse array of other development organizations, standard
setting bodies and private sector groups. The draft principles were discussed
with a wide range of stakeholders, including the G24, OECD, the UN, and the
Windsor Group. CGAP updated diagnostic assessments
(www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.11.1772 ) from countries leading
in innovative financial inclusion (www.cgap.org/policy) to inform the
development of the principles. The full report by the G20 team to G20 Leaders
also includes selected case studies.

The next step, in the months leading up to the next G20 Leaders Summit in
Seoul, Korea in November, will be to formulate concrete actions policy
makers, standard setting bodies and the private sector can take, in G20
countries and non-G20 countries alike, toward implementing the principles to
deliver financial services to those currently denied them.

CGAP is an independent policy and research center dedicated to advancing
financial access for the world's poor. www.cgap.org. The Technology
Program at CGAP is co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CGAP,
and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Jeanette Thomas, +1-202-473-8869, +1-202-744-4829, jthomas1 at cgap.org, or Jim Rosenberg, +1-202-473-1084, jrosenberg at cgap.org, both of CGAP