Technical Conference on Financial Inclusion, Regulation, Financial Literacy and Education in Central Asia and South Caucasus | Asia Development Bank | 26 October 2017 | Narxos University, Zhandosov Street 55, Almaty 050035, Kazakhstan

Regional financial inclusion has been progressing in Central Asia and South Caucasus (CASC) but the pace has been slow and uneven. For example, the most widely used measure of financial inclusion, the percentage of adults with an account at a formal financial institution, had the following values in 2014: Armenia (18%), Azerbaijan (29%), Georgia (40%), Kazakhstan (54%), Kyrgyz Republic (18%), Tajikistan (11%), and Uzbekistan (41%). Aside from Kazakhstan, these levels are substantially below the average level in developing economies of 54%. Also, there has been little measurement of financial literacy in the region. For example, of these countries, only Georgia has participated in the OECD and INFE survey of adult financial literacy.

The project will examine recent trends in financial inclusion for both individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the CASC economies; institutional and regulatory barriers to the expansion of microfinance and other modes of increased access such as telephone banking, e-money, and crowd funding; issues related to identity verification and prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism; microprudential and macroprudential financial stability risks associated with the expansion of financial inclusion; and policy options to expand the regulation of microfinance to encourage its expansion without jeopardizing financial stability. It will also examine issues related to the assessment of financial literacy and promotion of financial education to support greater financial inclusion.

2017 Partners:

• Rakurs Consulting Group, ADB