    
Monday, September 17th, 2007 8:00-9:00am Registration and Breakfast, area outside of Preston Auditorium Plenary sessions will take place in the Preston Auditorium, located on the 1st floor, World Bank Main Complex Building, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington DC 9:00-9:30am Welcoming Remarks, John Elkins, Executive Vice President for Global Brand and Marketing, Visa International; Laurence Carter, Director, Small and Medium Enterprise Department, IFC; and Elizabeth Littlefield, Director and CEO, CGAP 9:30-10:45am Session 1: New Technologies and Microfinance Today 10:45-11:15am Coffee 11:15-12:45pm Session 2: The Role of Technology and Credit Information. The foundation for technology approaches is a stable information system. Banks and microfinance organizations can only take advantage of technology approaches to reach new customer segments and reduce costs once information systems are stable. What are the requirements and where is innovation possible? Moderator: Xavier Reille, Lead Microfinance Specialist, CGAP 12:45-2:00pm Lunch - MC 12th Floor Gallery Keynote Speaker: "Technology's Role in Development "Alieu Conteh, Chairman, Vodacom Congo. 2:00-3:30pm Session 2, continued, The Importance of Credit Information and Credit Scoring for Microfinance Lending. This panel will present an overview of credit information and scoring systems as applied to microlending, laying out the benefits and challenges. What kind of credit information is available in different markets? What is the status of credit approval processes in microfinance institutions around the world? What are the benefits of credit scoring for microlending? Moderator: Stefano Stoppani, Regional Credit Bureau and Risk Management Advisor, Global Credit Bureau Program, International Finance Corporation. 3:30-4:00pm Coffee 4:00-5:30pm Session 3: Introducing Credit Scoring in Microlending. What are the organizational challenges to introducing credit scoring? How does scoring affect credit policies, and at which stages of the client relationship does it apply? How are scoring systems maintained? Moderator: Tony Lythgoe, Regional Credit Bureau and Risk Management Advisor, International Finance Corporation 5:30-7:00pm Cocktail Reception and Exhibition of Technology Providers, Unsecured Lobby, Main Complex Building, World Bank headquarters Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 8:00-9:00am Breakfast, area outside of Preston Auditorium 9:00-10:30am Session 4: Leapfrogging Access to Finance with Mobile Phone Technology. Mobile phones are the first communications technology with more users in developing countries than developed, and have vast potential to make basic financial transactions possible anytime and anywhere for poor people. This introduces new actors--mobile operators, airtime dealers, platform vendors, and others--into the business of microfinance. How do these large players see this market? What adaptations to mobile phones, marketing strategies, or software solutions are necessary if poor people are to use mobile phones for banking? Moderator: Gautam Ivatury, Manager, Technology Program, CGAP. 10:30-11:00am Coffee 11:00-12:30pm Session 4, continued. How can microfinance institutions and other organizations targeting poor people take advantage of the mobile boom to create a low-cost delivery channel for financial services? What role do partnerships play in these initiatives? How are MFIs in a number of countries overcoming constraints to deploy mobile banking channels? Moderator: Brigit Helms, Sector Leader, East Asia and the Pacific, International Finance Corporation 12:30-1:30pm Lunch - MC12th Floor Gallery Keynote speaker: Jyrki Koskelo, Director, Global Financial Markets, International Finance Corporation. 1:30-3:00pm Session 5: Alternative Data to Develop a Credit Score: Bridging the Information Gap. How can alternative and non-traditional data bridge the information gap and allow lenders to evaluate the risk profile of potential clients who typically are excluded from the credit system? Moderator: John Kresge, Senior Vice President, Business Line Development, Visa International 3:00-3:30pm Coffee 3:30-5:00pm Session 6: Financial Services and Social Protection. While private firms consider business opportunities among the "next billion," there are still 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 per day. Are government-to-person payment distribution systems the answer to bringing these people financial services? Moderator: Syed Hashemi, Senior Private Sector Development Specialist, CGAP. 5:00-6:00pm Vendor Exhibition 6:00-8:00pm Dinner - MC 12th Floor Gallery Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 8:00-9:00am Breakfast, area outside of Preston Auditorium 9:00-10:30am Session 7: Delivery Channels for Microfinance. Banking agents are becoming a popular way of signing up new customers and offering services outside of the branch environment. Can these agents deliver a range of products? How far from the bank branches can this model reach to serve rural areas? Moderator: William Schoch, Vice President, Consumer Products, Visa International.Abbas Sikander, Group Executive Director for Operations and Technology, Tameer Bank, Pakistan 10:30-11:00am Coffee 11:00-12:30pm Session 8: Policy Implications and Future Challenges. New ways of delivering banking services, including credit, can be challenging to long-established policies and regulations that cover the financial and other sectors. What are the various legal and regulatory challenges posed by new technologies? What are the challenges associated with credit reporting? What policy reform measures can address these challenges? Moderator: Tim Lyman, Senior Policy Advisor, CGAP 12:30-1:30pm Lunch - Lunch tickets will be provided 1:30-3:00pm Session 8, continued. AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism) is an issue for everyone - central bankers, service providers, customers. How can compliance rules (KYC, reporting, record-keeping) impact access to finance? We'll discuss examples of how the private sector and regulators have collaborated to find workable solutions. In particular, in the Philippines and South Africa, providers engaged with central bank officials and crafted AML /CFT rules that do not interfere with the ability of financial service providers to serve the low-income population. Moderator: Professor Louis de Koker, Director of the Centre for the Study of Economic Crime (CENSEC), the University of Johannesburg 3:00-4:00pm Session 9: Future Opportunities and Challenges. This discussion will review the experiences and concepts shared about new technologies in microfinance, expanded service offerings, analytical tools, and innovative technologies, and it will consider how these lessons can be applied in future work to expand access to finance. Peer Stein, Head, Financial Infrastructure and Institution Building, International Finance Corporation Gautam Ivatury, Manager, Technology Program, CGAP
Closing Remarks and the Way Forward Lars Thunell, Executive Vice President & CEO, IFC |
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