About the Workshop:
In partnership with the Institute of Money, Technology, Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) at the University of California (Irvine), Interdisciplinary Research and Action Center (IDRAC) at Habib University is hosting a day-long workshop on financial inclusion of the poor. The participants during the workshop will engage with some of the contemporary challenges in the discourse and practices of financial inclusion. The workshop seeks to address how practitioners of financial industry are shaping people’s fiscal habits through modern information and communication technologies. The questions that the workshop seeks to investigate include: 1) How new financial instruments such as mobile banking and branchless banking are deployed in poor areas? 2) How state regulation and surveillance programs effect channels of capital flows? 3) Do financial inclusion programs address the fundamental issues of income inequality in Pakistan?
The focus of the workshop would be to understand how financial practitioners incorporate the poor masses into the logic of formal finance.
The workshop themes include:
- Digital Money
- Branchless banking
- State regulation and surveillance
Participants:
Karandaaz, State Bank of Pakistan, Telenor, Paysys Labs, Monet, Finja, Meezan Bank, Bank Alfalah, and academics.
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Asma Ibrahim, Director, State Bank of Pakistan’s Money Museum & Art Gallery.
Workshop Schedule:
09:00 – 09:30: Arrival and Registration
09:30 – 9:45: Opening remarks: Dr. Noman Baig (Assistant Professor, Social Development and Policy, Habib University) and Dr. Hafeez Jamali (Director IDRAC, Habib University)
09:45 – 10:00: Opening statement: Dr. Bill Maurer, Director, Institute of Money, Technology, & Financial Inclusion, at the University of California (Irvine).
10:00 – 11:30: Session I: Digitization and Mobile Money
Bridget Kustin (Moderator, Ph.D. candidate, Johns Hopkins University)
Samar Hasan, Karandaaz
Qasif Shahid, Finja
Ali Sikander, Paysys Labs
11:30 – 11:45: Tea Break
11:45 – 13:15: Session II: Branchless Banking
Sohaib Khan (Moderator, Ph.D. candidate, Columbia University)
Ahmed Ali, Meezan Bank
Talha Leghari, Monet
Bridget Kustin, Johns Hopkin
13:15 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:30: Session III: Financial Inclusion
Dr. Hafeez Jamali (Moderator)
Fawad Abdul Kader, Zain Khalid Bhatti, Bank Alfalah
Shoukat Bizinjo, State Bank of Pakistan
Imad Uddin, State Bank of Pakistan
16:00 – 17:00: Keynote Speaker
Dr. Asma Ibrahim, Director, State Bank of Pakistan Money Museum & Art Gallery