The financial services landscape is changing rapidly, and banks are struggling to keep pace with consumer demands. It was fascinating to see the excitement and frustration at the recent AFI Global Policy Forum in Jordan in September.

Six hundred fifty senior executives are all passionate about financial inclusion, the majority from Central Banks and regulatory authorities. An underlying current was a sense of frustration: there was not enough action from the private sector banks to address the financial inclusion issue – both individual consumers and MSME’s.

There was a sense of excitement at the massive potential that digital inclusion offered, and heroes were made of countries that had made significant progress.

I then came across a great piece from The Financial Brand, which tables five trends in retail banking, which I have copied below:
The future of Retail Banking – 5 trends

The 5th trend is exciting and supports some of the comments made at the AFI Forum – should Central Banks get more actively involved since private sector banks seem reluctant to do so.

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