Responsible Finance and Consumer Protection

The Factbook contains comparable data and information on 49 OECD, G20 and Financial Stability Board jurisdictions, and can be used by governments, regulators and the private sector to compare their own frameworks with those of other countries. The Factbook was presented at the G20/OECD Seminar on Corporate Governance in Today's Capital Markets in Fukuoka on 8 June 2019 in the presence of Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of State for Financial Services of Japan, and Ángel Gurría, Secretary-General, OECD.
 

This primer provides a quick reference on the “Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”, a landmark legislation that defines the current national policy to promote, support, strengthen and encourage the growth and development of MSMEs. Enacted by the Philippine Congress in 1991 as Republic Act 6977, and amended by Republic Act 8289 in 1997, and further amended by Republic Act 9501 in 2008, the law is geared towards the development of the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit by providing a business environment conducive for MSMEs.

To date, there has been no efficient way of uncovering synthetic ID fraud. To crack down on it, every customer seeking credit would have to undergo even more rigorous ID checks than they do already. This Mckinsey article proposes a new approach that, with the help of machine learning, digs deep into vast amounts of third-party data to gauge whether the basic information given by an applicant matches that of a real person, thereby weeding out the small proportion of those likely to be using a synthetic ID.

Mobile phones are helping millions of low-income customers to access financial services for the first time, but they are also exposing them to new cyber threats they could never have imagined. The Serianu 2017 Africa Cyber Security Report estimates that cybercrime in mobile-based transactions costs businesses $140 million per year in Africa. Why is this becoming more common? And what can providers and policy makers do to prevent it? The author offers some simple measures that providers and policy makers can adopt to protect other mobile financial services users from cyberattacks.

The ease with which customers access digital financial services (DFS) can make such implementations appear deceptively simple – with just a click on a mobile phone and a customer will be able to make payments, save money, access credit, and even become insured. Launching a digital channel is not a simple endeavor however. It requires a relevant strategy, the right technology solution, the operational know-how, and a very good understanding of customers.

Medici examines the widening financial gap in India and their lack of push for institutional credit for consumers. With consumer debt to GDP at only 17 percent, India falls behind major economies of Asia Pacific.

According to the article, “In the absence of institutional credit at fair interest rates for a majority of the population, people at the bottom of the pyramid are left devoid of opportunities and fail to be included in the financial system.”

Key contributing factors to this issue of financial inclusion include:

Small and medium sized businesses’ ability to participate in international markets and global value chains has not been fully developed. A new report, from Business at OECD and B20 and sponsored by the SME Finance Forum, calls on G20 leaders to follow four core recommendations to this end: 

SMEs that must be de-risked are experiencing issues with access to finance, however blockchain may be the answer to their problem. Dubai-Based Global Anti-Money Laundering, Risk, Governance and Compliance Professional, Maureen M., explores the benefits of blockchain and their ability to transform how SMEs are perceived by financial institutions (FI).
Money laundering plays a significant part in the lack of trust from FIs towards SMEs. According to the article, “Money launderers can explore these loopholes and set up SMEs in different countries and use them to launder funds.”

The Asia Security Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) released a report outlining the leading principles for regulation of outsourcing for regulated securities. The report surveyed across jurisdictions from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, UK and the USA. Nine leading principles from the report included:

The purpose of this Guide is to enhance transparency for potential fintech bank applicants and increase their understanding of the procedure and criteria applied by the ECB in its assessment of licence applications. This transparency is also intended to facilitate the application process. The Guide is technology-neutral and seeks neither to support nor to discourage the entrance of fintech banks as market participants.