Standard Bank e FSD Moçambique dinamizam inclusão financeira

It is a partnership that represents an important milestone for the implementation of the Government's national financial inclusion strategy for 2016-2022, ensuring the availability and accessibility of quality financial products and services that are appropriate to the needs of the Mozambican population.

At the occasion, Victor Jardim, the director of Personal and Business Banking at Standard Bank, said that the bank relies on FSDMoç's experience to implement projects ranging from financial literacy to financial services expansion and strengthening, Improvement of the business environment and facilitation of funding.

"The biggest challenge for the bankarization of low-literacy populations using technology is education, which is why we rely on FSDMoç's experience in this chapter to help leverage our strategy for financial inclusion," said Victor Jardim.

At her turn, thhe FSDMoç Executive Director Anne-Marie Chidzero, said that the memorandum of understanding, hereby signed, establishes a platform through which FSDMoç and Standard Bank will interact and develop very specific projects, products and business strategies in order to expand the supply of financial services to rural customers, small farmers, less-favored households, small and medium-sized enterprises, among others.

"We believe that Standard Bank can be a key player in the Mozambican financial system in terms of expanding levels of financial inclusion. We can now follow up on and analyze the proposals and projects that Standard Bank has and support or co-fund them in order to reduce the risk or support the costs to help developing the market in terms of financial education for customers regarding the new products that Standard Bank intends to offer, “she said.

In this context, Standard Bank have been contributing to the implementation of the Central Bank’s objectives regarding financial inclusion through the implementation of several projects in rural areas where there are no branches of traditional financial institutions.

In fact, the bank has promoted lectures on financial education for secondary school students, encouraging alternative ways of circulating money through electronic channels, as well as promoting the Citizenship project since 2011, which consists of the free issuance of IDs, Birth registers and NUITs, which are essential facilitators of citizens' access to financial services and products.

It should be noted that since 2014 FSDMoç has supported and promoted financial inclusion initiatives in the country.