The Saudi Arabian
Monetary Authority (SAMA) pays great attention to promote the level of
financial inclusion in the Kingdom for its role in enhancing financial
stability and economic growth, in addition to support sustainability
development in accordance with Kingdom’s vision 2030 and its related strategic
programs.
The Arab Day for
Financial Inclusion will be held on 27 April 2018 under the theme “Enabling
young people and entrepreneurs’ access to financial services”.
SAMA in cooperation
with relevant entities promote the financial inclusion and particularly the
accessibility of young and entrepreneurs to the financial services. Increasing the
contribution of SMEs to 35% of GDP and increasing the number of adults with a
bank account to 90% are among the important goals that the vision seeks to
achieve.
Among the efforts
paid to achieve this goal, diversifying the channels to access financial
services, notably the initiative of bank’s agents, which contributes to
increasing the number of establishments, and individuals who own a bank
account. Through bank’s agents, the access to financial services become easier
and swifter especially in small towns and villages. Moreover, SAMA encourages innovation in accordance with the promotion of
responsible financial inclusion and the empowering of women. Efforts are also
being made to design and develop a database of financial inclusion and foster
cultural and financial awareness among different groups in the society, the
youth in particular. SAMA is well aware of the technology role in boosting
financial inclusion and fostering accessibility to financial services.
Therefore, SAMA strives to enhance digital financial inclusion. It developed
various financial payment systems, services and products. In addition, it
encourages innovation in payment solution and digital financial services to
reach all segments of the community across the Kingdom to benefit from these
services in a sustainable and effective manner.
In conclusion, SAMA
emphasized the importance of financial inclusion in promoting the financial
systems and financial stability of countries and their role in supporting
sustainability and economic growth. SAMA will continue its efforts in
consolidating financial inclusion in line with the Kingdom’s vision 2030
framework in achieving its plans and programs.