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Banks Come Together to Reach the Unbanked: WWB and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Host Meeting of the Global Network for Banking Innovation (GNBI)

On June 18th and 19th, in The Hague, Women’s World Banking and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands hosted the 4th annual meeting of WWB's Global Network for Banking Innovation for Microfinance (GNBI), a network of 24 major commercial banks and microfinance institutions formed in 2001 to spur innovation in banking strategies and the development of products and services for the growing microfinance sector.

More than 80 banking executives and microfinance experts from 15 countries took part in the event, which according to one participant was "the ideal forum to network and to understand the current innovations within the microfinance segment."

The GNBI convenes annually to share best practices and lessons learned in providing financial services to the unbanked. This year's meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, a primary sponsor of this meeting and a major funder of WWB’s microfinance initiatives. The meeting was also sponsored by the Netherlands Development Finance Company and by ING, a strategic partner of WWB in introducing mainstream banking technology and IT to microfinance.

Welcome cocktail sponsored by ING Group

The meeting was opened by Mercedes Canalda, Chairperson of Women’s World Banking; Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President of Women’s World Banking; and Marilou van Golstein Brouwers, Managing Director of Triodos International Investments, based in the Netherlands. Women’s World Banking invited experts from microfinance and other private sector industries to present on three key themes:

1. The Microentrepreneur – Low-income entrepreneurs all over the world want fast, accessible and diverse financial services. But to truly be “delighted customers,” they need excellent customer service, and women especially want relationships with their financial institutions.

2. Lending Methodologies – Retail banks entering microfinance have a spectrum of lending approaches available, ranging from the traditional microfinance individual lending (high touch, low tech) to highly automated data intensive lending models (low touch, high tech).

3. Diversified Delivery Channels – The mobile phone is proving to be an invaluable distribution channel to reach low-income entrepreneurs. The new mobile payment and mobile banking technologies are enabling microfinance service providers to reach customers across their countries without investing in a national branch infrastructure.

Presenters included top executives from GNBI member institutions, leading banks in microfinance, and consumer products companies from Africa, North America, Europe, Latin America and India, including Citigroup of USA, ShoreBank International of USA, ING and Triodos Bank of The Netherlands, BlueOrchard Finance of Switzerland, Equity Bank of Kenya, Banco del Pichincha of Ecuador, Banco Azteca of Mexico, ICICI Bank of India, Delta Life Insurance Company of Bangladesh and WIZZIT of South Africa.

“The diversity of GNBI members, combined with their achievements in microfinance, creates an excellent platform for innovation in expanding financial access,” said Mercedes Benavides, Manager of the GNBI.

The conference closed with WWB President Mary Ellen Iskenderian challenging the audience to reach the unbanked. “There are millions and millions of people who lack quality financial services. We know what the customer wants, we can learn from each other how to provide it to them, and it is up to us to bring microfinance to the world’s low-income entrepreneurs.”

For the full conference program please click here. For further information on the conference, please contact Mercedes Benavides, Manager of the Global Network for Banking Innovation, at mbenavides@swwb.org