The award, which was given at the just ended AFI 2023 Global Policy Forum (GPF) held in Manila, Philippines from 12th – 15th September 2023, and hosted by the central bank of the Philippines (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) was in recognition of the Bank’s pioneering role in promoting financial inclusion and intellectual contributions to AFI Knowledge Products and Policy Guidelines.

Through the Bank’s representation on all seven Working Groups (WGs) of AFI, three of which it chairs, it contributes significantly to peer reviews of member jurisdictions’ policy and regulatory frameworks and helps to shape enabling policy and regulation of various pillars of financial inclusion.

The Bank has also hosted a number of AFI peer learning exchange programmes where it has provided training for members of the AFI network.

The award was received in Manila, Philippines on 15th September 2023 on behalf of the Bank by the Second Deputy Governor, Mrs. Elsie Addo Awadzi, who also chairs AFI’s Gender Inclusive Finance Committee.

The Alliance for Financial Inclusion is a policy leadership alliance owned and led by member central banks and financial regulatory institutions with the common objective of advancing financial inclusion at country, regional and international levels.

Its eighty-five (85) member institutions come from over eighty (80) emerging and developing countries.

The GPF is an annual flagship event of AFI, organized to share experiences of financial inclusion implementations of member countries, assess impact of financial inclusion policies, socio-economic developments, and global financial standards on financial inclusion, and make new policy commitment on financial inclusion to address observed challenges.

The theme of the 2023 GPF was ‘’ Stability, Sustainability, and Inclusivity for Shared Prosperity’’ and emphasised the importance of financial inclusion and sustainable development for monetary and financial stability.  

The forum was attended by over 700 participants from member institutions, global financial sector standard setting bodies and other policy makers.