Promoting Financial Inclusion via Mobile Financial Services in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries – First Workshop Session

Barcelona, 1 October 2014

In the framework of the mobile finance project “Promoting Financial Inclusion via Mobile Financial Services in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries”, labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Senior Officials on 2 June 2014, the UfM Secretariat is organising the first workshop session. The session will be held on 1 October 2014 in Barcelona, at the UfM Secretariat premises.

The Mobile Finance Project aims to support expanded access to financial services in Jordan and Morocco through the development of innovative retail payment solutions such as mobile financial services. By extending the availability of reliable payment services, members of the population without access to traditional financial services can be encouraged to join the financial system. This can directly improve the lives of these individuals by offering options beyond a cash-only system. The project will also contribute to the economy both by increasing the amount of transactions carried out through formal channels and providing opportunities for innovative new products to develop.

In support of the regional dimension of the project, the UfM Secretariat will act as a dialogue platform. It plans to organise two working meetings to promote regional partnerships and share best practices among the countries participating in this project, as well as other countries that might be interested in becoming involved at a later stage.

The first working meeting will focus on sharing the experiences of financial supervisors in European countries, together with representatives from the European Commission, European Investment Bank and European Central Bank, with regards to the implementation of the Directive on Payment Services (2007/64/EC) and the E-Money Directive (2009/110/EC).