WEBVTT - How Mastercard Is Advancing Inclusive Growth

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Karrol Messer and

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<v Speaker 1>Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio. Improving inclusion is a big

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<v Speaker 1>issue in society. It's a big issue for corporations the

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<v Speaker 1>C suite, and that includes financial inclusion. Our next guest

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<v Speaker 1>focus is on that. Shamina Singh. She's the founder and

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<v Speaker 1>president of Mastercard's Center for Inclusive Growth. She joins us

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<v Speaker 1>on Zoom from New York City. Shamina, thanks so much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us here talk to us about what financial

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<v Speaker 1>inclusion is. So first of all, thank you so much

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<v Speaker 1>for having me here. It's an incredibly important topic. But

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<v Speaker 1>it's a pretty simple idea, and that is that everyone

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<v Speaker 1>in the world deserves to be engaged in the formal

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<v Speaker 1>financial system. I think it's probably surprising to a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people that there are many, many, hundreds of millions

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<v Speaker 1>of people around the world who don't participate in the

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<v Speaker 1>formal economy, and they actually spend most of their currency

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<v Speaker 1>and most of their time and energy transacting in an

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<v Speaker 1>environment that is mostly cash and mostly insecure. And so

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<v Speaker 1>the idea is that we as companies, as regulators, as

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<v Speaker 1>governments all need to come together to ensure that as

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<v Speaker 1>many people as possible have access to the rules, the regulations,

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<v Speaker 1>the responsibilities and the benefits of engaging in a formal

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<v Speaker 1>financial system. So shemina, what are some of the priorities there?

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<v Speaker 1>For inclusion is as simple as getting more people to

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<v Speaker 1>be able to open bank accounts, investment accounts, all the above. Well, look,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's all of the above, But at its core,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's about making sure that people do have

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<v Speaker 1>access to bank accounts or some sort of account that

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<v Speaker 1>allows them to store their money, stored their money safely,

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<v Speaker 1>spend their money securely with them being in charge of it,

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<v Speaker 1>and ensured that they have things like insurance and the

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<v Speaker 1>ability to spend in a way that aligns with their responsibilities.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, over the last ten years, what's interesting is

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<v Speaker 1>we have been able to work across the world to

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<v Speaker 1>actually increase financial inclusion by fifty percent. There are over

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<v Speaker 1>seventy five percent of adults around the world now that

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<v Speaker 1>do have access to formal bank accounts. And I have

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<v Speaker 1>to tell you that when we first started on this

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<v Speaker 1>journey over ten years ago, that was definitely not the case.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's working, but there's more work to do. She mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it it's just primarily an emerging markets issue, and if so,

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<v Speaker 1>where are some of the key markets that you guys

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<v Speaker 1>are really focused on. Now It's funny, you know, I

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<v Speaker 1>just landed from Ethiopia today this afternoon, and that is

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<v Speaker 1>a market that is just ripe for expansion. It's opening,

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<v Speaker 1>it's exciting, it's growing. But the vast majority of adults

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<v Speaker 1>in Ethiopi you don't have access to formal regulated bank accounts.

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<v Speaker 1>But that's not the only place. I mean, there are

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<v Speaker 1>pockets around the world, certainly, but even here in the

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<v Speaker 1>United States and developing economies, there are millions of people

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<v Speaker 1>that don't have access and don't participate in the formal economy.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think we'd all be surprised at how hard

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<v Speaker 1>it is actually to engage in a responsible way in

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<v Speaker 1>the economy. And it's also one of the reasons why

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<v Speaker 1>we're convening the Inclusive Growth Summit, but also calling on

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<v Speaker 1>the administration and members of Congress to pass a national

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<v Speaker 1>Financial Inclusion Strategy in the United States. So, for a

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<v Speaker 1>country like Ethiopa, what are some of the barriers that

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<v Speaker 1>are preventing people from participating in the financial system. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>guessing one is just not a lot of brick and

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<v Speaker 1>mortar banks. Is it as simple as that. I wish

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<v Speaker 1>it was as simple as that, you know, And it's

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<v Speaker 1>becoming easier with you know, mobile phones and sell service

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<v Speaker 1>and the digital divide hopefully decreasing over time. The opportunity

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<v Speaker 1>is there for more people to participate. But oftentimes, because

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<v Speaker 1>people transact in cash, they're paid in cash, they spend

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<v Speaker 1>in cash, it's hard not to participate in a digital economy.

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<v Speaker 1>And so one of the things that we saw during COVID,

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't think people will be surprised by this,

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<v Speaker 1>is that those who were not able to operate more

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<v Speaker 1>digitally really fell behind the curve in their ability to

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<v Speaker 1>transact and succeed in a digital economy. And so I

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<v Speaker 1>think that the urgency of now and the urgency of

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<v Speaker 1>anyone either from you know, from Michigan to Mumbai to

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<v Speaker 1>participate in the formal economy through digitization is an extremely

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<v Speaker 1>important topic for us to tackle. So she mean, this

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<v Speaker 1>seems like an opportunity that will be right for a

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<v Speaker 1>public private partnership type of thing. Really amazing fintech companies

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<v Speaker 1>out there, and if I think if I could get

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<v Speaker 1>my technology into some of these areas you know, you

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<v Speaker 1>can really make a difference. So talk to us about

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<v Speaker 1>how they approach how governments approach it. Yeah, it's it's

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<v Speaker 1>interesting and you're absolutely right, like for issues related to

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<v Speaker 1>not only financial inclusion, but shared prosperity, inclusive growth, climate,

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<v Speaker 1>all of the things that we're focused on in our

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<v Speaker 1>individual silos with whether it's private sector or a public

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<v Speaker 1>sector or a social sector. The opportunity now is to

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<v Speaker 1>actually move from silos to solutions and really break down

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<v Speaker 1>the barriers that exist between public, private, social sectors to

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<v Speaker 1>ensure that we bring all of our assets, all of

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<v Speaker 1>our superpowers, if you will, together to ensure a strong

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<v Speaker 1>and positive collective outcome for everyone. So, Shamia, with this

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<v Speaker 1>summit coming up next month in April, what's top of

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<v Speaker 1>the agenda there? What are some of the priorities that's

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<v Speaker 1>top of the agenda? I think is you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>urgency of now and making sure that we're bringing together

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<v Speaker 1>the right leaders at the right time to form common

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<v Speaker 1>cause around the issues that we're all facing, the calamity

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<v Speaker 1>of climate change, the you know, the fundamentals around financial inclusion,

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<v Speaker 1>the opportunities related to inclusive growth, but also the idea

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<v Speaker 1>that you know, with all of the new technology, all

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<v Speaker 1>of the chat, gbt AI, all of the things that

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<v Speaker 1>we're asking questions about. The opportunity now is to say,

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<v Speaker 1>how are we ensuring that those technologies work for us

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<v Speaker 1>not against us? And those are the time the kinds

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<v Speaker 1>of topics and conversations that will be discussing at the

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<v Speaker 1>Inclusive Growth sum It by people who are at the

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<v Speaker 1>top of their game, though I buy the decision makers

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<v Speaker 1>who can cross boundaries to ensure that what we talk

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<v Speaker 1>about actually becomes implemented in action. It's just about ten

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen seconds. If an im in the United States is

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<v Speaker 1>here illegally, can hear she open a bank account? It depends.

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<v Speaker 1>It depends on a couple of things related to the

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<v Speaker 1>banking regulations. But if they're here illegally, they can absolutely

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<v Speaker 1>open a bank account. Okay, there you go. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's very interesting because I remember it's very interesting

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<v Speaker 1>Shimida sing I, founder in president MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth,

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<v Speaker 1>joining us on Zoom from New York City. But I

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<v Speaker 1>remember working at a bank as in college, and the

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<v Speaker 1>illegal immigrants will just go to and after I worked

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<v Speaker 1>at the bank, I worked at Eddie's Donuts right next door,

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<v Speaker 1>and they'd come in, cash their checks and buy money

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<v Speaker 1>orders because they couldn't open a bank account. It's just

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<v Speaker 1>like really