Oikocredit signs new guidelines on responsible digital financial inclusion

The co-founding signatories launched the guidelines at the Connecting the Dots fintech conference in Amsterdam today.

Why digital financial inclusion guidelines?

Funding for financial inclusion recently reached a historic high of $37 billion and another $31 billion is being invested in fintech globally each year.

But as opportunities in digital finance increase, so do the risks, especially with the current lack of sufficient industry standards in this area.  

The signatories recognised the need for specific guidelines on digital finance and used existing global industry principles and frameworks to create them.

The guidelines aim to benefit digital finance customers, providers and market ecosystems in managing opportunities and risks associated with digital transformation and digitalisation.

The guidelines in detail:

• Promote responsible investment in digital finance
• Establish customer identity, data privacy and security standards
• Promote fair and transparent pricing
• Enhance customer services for problem resolution and product innovation
• Prevent over-indebtedness and strengthen digital literacy and financial awareness
• Improve the disclosure of terms and conditions for customers
• Manage risks comprehensively with growth of digital inclusion
• Foster a proportionate legal and regulatory framework
• Facilitate interoperability and infrastructures for digital financial services ecosystems
• Track progress to mitigate risks and expand opportunities in digital financial services

Collaborating for the future of digital finance

The guidelines are a voluntary framework that organisations can sign up to and use when they invest in responsible digital financial services. The guidelines are intended to benefit digital financial service providers and their customers by helping investors better evaluate and manage risks associated with digital transformation and digitalisation.

In collaborating on the investor guidelines, Oikocredit and the other signatories aim to accelerate investments that create value-added benefits for digital finance customers and broader digital ecosystems.

Responsible investing is key to our mission

Bart van Eyk, Oikocredit’s Director of Investments said: “It’s important for Oikocredit to collaborate on such efforts to create something that is bigger than the sum of its parts. The guidelines are key to our mission to invest responsibly and it’s crucial for Oikocredit to invest in digital finance models while securing the best interest of the customers.

“While we are still relatively new to this area, incorporating fintech and digital finance is becoming more important to our work. It’s at the forefront of creating positive change in financial inclusion to the low-income communities that we serve.”

The Guidelines for Investing in Responsible Digital Financial Services are hosted on the Responsible Finance Forum (RFF) platform, where you can find detailed information on each of the guidelines.