L'évolution rapide du paysage financier mondial a suscité un intérêt croissant pour les transferts de fonds des diasporas vers leurs pays d´origi... Read More

Le Projet Inclusion Financière en Tunisie (IFT) s'inscrit dans les orientations stratégiques du BMZ 2030, où l'égalité entre les sexes est un cri... Read More

Dans le cadre d'une collaboration fructueuse entre le Ministère des Finances et la GIZ, un événement majeur a récemment eu lieu pour marquer l’a... Read More

Promouvoir l'Approche Genre pour des Résultats Durables... Read More

Dans le cadre des efforts visant à renforcer l'éducation financière et l'inclusion digitale en Tunisie, une visite d'étude au Maroc a été organi... Read More

Dans le cadre de ces initiatives, le projet pour l'Inclusion Financière en Tunisie a orchestré un voyage d´étude en Jordanie au cours du mois de j... Read More

Création d’une base de données nationale de l’inclusion financière en Tunisie... Read More

L’inclusion financière est une étape majeure vers une croissance inclusive en Tunisie et cela se traduit par le renforcement de l’accès des pop... Read More

Le projet Inclusion financière en Tunisie a organisé l'événement de clôture Meetup de la mission Human Centred Design. Les participant.es ayant p... Read More

The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) and the Palestine Capital Market Authority (PCMA) presented the results of the 2022 Financial Inclusion Diagnos... Read More

Without understanding the risk and opportunities of new Fintech approaches for a specific market policymakers will not be able to provide an enabling ... Read More

The 2016 National Financial Inclusion Strategy highlighted that only 36% of the Palestinian population uses financial products and services.[1] Even i... Read More

The Palestinian opportunity to attract fintech startups is unique. This is thanks to a young and tech-savvy population, high demand for alternative fi... Read More

18 Palestinian financial regulators receive certificates and recognitions after successfully concluding the Fintech Academy, a 2-year capacity buildin... Read More

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recession, tackling climate change had taken a backseat. We have seen some initiatives f... Read More

Under the title "Egypt: Your Investment Gateway to Africa & the Middle East Venture Capital", the first Egyptian Venture Capital Summit took place in ... Read More

An important milestone towards Fintech promotion for financial inclusion: PMA opens its doors for innovators to test innovative solutions in their new... Read More

The Palestinian Fintech ecosystem is nascent. It has however followed global trends when it comes to the increased interest and efforts of policymaker... Read More

The MENA region has been facing significant socio-economic challenges even before the SARS-CoV-2 crisis, which were exacerbated by it. The lack of eco... Read More

In theory, building the capacities of regulatory authorities in the field of Fintech seems straightforward: Providing courses and webinars on Fintech ... Read More

Venture capital (VC) plays an indispensable role in promoting entrepreneurship. Not only can venture capital in itself have a positive impact on the m... Read More

In a joint campaign, PMA and payment service providers inform about the advantages of mobile wallets and e-payments to foster financial inclusion. ... Read More

The serious damage to economies and societies caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which has had a particularly severe economic impact on MSMEs, entrepr... Read More

More than one million migrant workers are currently working and residing in Jordan, many of whom are originally from Asia. Generally, migrants come to... Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive health and economic consequences globally, with developing countries particularly exposed. Everywhere, the gr... Read More

Even though financial technology innovations have brought a lot of progressive movement to the financial services sector in recent years, creating new... Read More

Save the Date: The Inclusive Fintech 50 2021 application period begins June 28th!... Read More

Credit constraints remain a serious obstacle to the development, innovation and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in in the Southern... Read More

Stacks MENA Bootcamp, the region’s first online Blockchain Bootcamp, concluded its first round with a hackathon and the announcement of three winnin... Read More

Coffee shops. Shisha bars. Mobile Wallets. Mobile payments might seem like a lifestyle product at first sight. They have, however, proven potential to... Read More

Our partners in the Central Banking community increasingly pay attention to sovereign digital currency – partners with whom we share long-standing r... Read More

GIZ supports early-stage start-ups and investor networks to foster innovation, growth and job opportunities for the benefit of societies. Across the e... Read More

Yalla Fintech 2020 is the Arab world’s first digital hackathon to boost collaboration and novel solutions in Fintech that make a difference for Fina... Read More

Brilliant ideas were on full display at Yalla Fintech – the Arab Hackathon for Financial Inclusion. These are the 15 innovators that push the fronti... Read More

COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to markets, governments, businesses and individuals. Countries around the world are facing the social,... Read More

Digital financial services play a key role in mitigating the economic impacts from the health crisis, in the recovery from lockdowns, and in maintaini... Read More

Levering the digital age and the “new normal”, GIZ in Palestine is ready to build upon financial inclusion efforts and support financial innovatio... Read More

How Fintech is transforming the financial sector and what it means for policymaking.... Read More

Refugees and mobile money in Jordan: Can digital financial services improve the access to remittances in the context of forced displacement? Presentin... Read More

Financial inclusion through digital financial services and alternative business models and players has so far not developed in Palestine – now major... Read More

Financial Inclusion for Impact: Journey and Vision for Jordan PRESS RELEASE Celebrating 9 Years of Successful Cooperation for Microfinance and Financi... Read More

I advise anyone who has a viable business idea to pursue it and to do proper market research until he/she turns it into reality.... Read More

The need for evidence-based policies in support of sustainable development is well recognized but there often is a gap between the availability of dat... Read More

In theory, it all sounds so straightforward: Leveraging the high penetration of mobile phones to extend financial services among unbanked Jordanians a... Read More

Access to and usage of financial services among young Jordanians is on the rise, but there is still great potential for financial inclusion.... Read More

Under the Financial Inclusion for the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI), the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry... Read More

The fintech industry in the MENA region is currently a “$2 billion market and annual growth is expected to reach $125 million by 2022”. Investment... Read More

In 2008, blockchain technology was intended to serve the first cryptocurrency, yet it turned out to have invaluable potential for applications in many... Read More

Greater financial inclusion is assumed to begin with the availability of simple transaction accounts for the unbanked population. A key prerequisite i... Read More

Both individuals and businesses can benefit from innovative technology-enabled payment and investment solutions in the Arab region given the funding c... Read More

A new generation of financial technology (Fintech) startups, championing financial institutions, and technology providers has in recent years been sha... Read More

With 21% of Palestinian workforce and altogether around 1.5 million Palestinian depending directly on public sector salaries, the emergency measures a... Read More

Study Tour to Tajikistan Knowledge Exchange between Central Bank of Jordan and National Bank of Tajikistan... Read More

Access to and usage of financial services among young Jordanians is on the rise, but there is still great potential for financial inclusion. ... Read More

GIZ’s first Spring Academy on ‘Financial Systems 4 Development’ hosted 26 staff from 11 countries in Berlin to boost their know-how about develo... Read More

Why the financial inclusion of women is at the core of what we do: the hidden enabler of countries’ development, economic growth, inequality reducti... Read More

GIZ Jordan- under its Digittances project- signs a cooperation agreement with the World Food Programme (WFP) to collaborate on the digitization of foo... Read More

Since early 2017, the GIZ project Improving Access to Remittances and other Financial Services through Digital Solutions (Digi#ances) has been engaged... Read More

I tell everybody to work hard on their hobbies like I did. It will be tough, but eventually they will reap the fruit and they will succeed. ... Read More

  Blockchain & Financial Inclusion Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates | December 12-13, 2018 Arab Policymakers and Regulators, AMF, GIZ, AFI... Read More

Empowered financial clients. Quality financial services used by people and businesses in all corners of the country. Equal opportunities for women and... Read More

“What are successes, new approaches and challenges of microfinance regulations in Arab countries?” Distinguished microfinance regulators from Pale... Read More

‘Fintech’ heralds the dawn of narrow banking and portfolio optimization. It will change the nature of money, shake the foundations of central bank... Read More

A 2017 survey by Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) and GIZ found that informal finance – a challenge in the face of resilient, inclusive development – ... Read More

Your education is your most powerful tool, but you need to move on even if you do not manage to find a job. You can create your own future. ... Read More

Each one of us needs support whether from those closest to us or from others. I feel that my project is growing day by day. It started as a hope, an i... Read More

... Read More

Levering the power of digital financial services: New GIZ project initiative aims to empower women to close the gender gap in financial inclusion with... Read More

 ... Read More

Approaching non-classical customers requires non-classical approach, therefore, the DEF has recently introduced new electronic tools such as website u... Read More

The Central Bank of Jordan set ambitious goals for reforming the financial sector for the benefit of people and businesses. While financial institutio... Read More

The Arab Monetary Fund, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, World Bank Group and GIZ support Arab countries in financial inclusion policymaking for incr... Read More

The meeting discussed the latest progresses in the adoption of the Financial Inclusion national strategy, and the approval of the National Committee T... Read More

On April 23, a panel of central bankers, investors and tech start-ups will investigate in which ways money is crucial in fostering business ideas and ... Read More

“Although becoming blind has been a great loss, God has blessed me with a supportive wife and son, who believe in me and have helped me along each s... Read More

The Jordan-EU-German cooperation in reforming the financial sector caters to enable more businesses and people to use better financial services to imp... Read More

“A bad liver cannot be compensated by good lungs”: Applied Microfinance supervision training in Palestine... Read More

Alexandria’s 2017 Techne Summit brought together professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and media to promote the Egyptian entrepreneurial ecosyste... Read More

The high youth unemployment despite an ever increasing number of young graduates is a priority on the political agenda in Jordan. In an effort to prom... Read More

“I went from having one steel-recycling machine in 2000 to owning twelve machines in 2017. I operate two workshops and have now 40 tons of scrap ste... Read More

The PMA’s Consumer Relations Halls staff exchanges experience with the Bosnian organization “U Plusu” on matters of advising consumers in overin... Read More

Policymakers and regulators from 16 countries from the Arab region and beyond engaged in the exchange on Financial Inclusion Strategy Implementation s... Read More

The Arab Monetary Fund and the GIZ Reinforce their Cooperation in Financial Sector Development and Supporting Financial Inclusion policies in the Arab... Read More

Under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein Central Bank of Jordan Will Launch the National Financial Inclusion Strategy ... Read More

The 2017 Global Policy Forum for financial inclusion held in Egypt was a milestone for Arab countries. The first GPF in the region witnessed the launc... Read More

With currently 65.6 million people worldwide,[1] the number of FDPs has never been higher. This group often does not have adequate access to appropria... Read More

The 9th Global Policy Forum was a milestone in the rapidly evolving financial inclusion landscape of not only Egypt but also the entire MENA Region it... Read More

Only 33 percent of adults in Jordan, 27 percent of women, has an account with a financial institution, while 38 percent is completely excluded from th... Read More

“At first, a lot of people rallied against the ladies’ gym, which is very unconventional here. But soon, the rumours quieted down and women starte... Read More

Working at the supermarket from 6:30 in the morning until 1:00 after midnight, Nisreen and her husband, Nayef, serve around 100 customers daily. The s... Read More

The advantages of savings, especially for the poor are clear and well known, nevertheless it is obvious that the savings needs of the poor are not bei... Read More

By regulating the microfinance sector in Jordan and licensing the MFIs, the Central Bank will contribute to stabilizing the system in alignment with f... Read More

Only 13.7% of micro-enterprises grew into small and medium-sized projects in Jordan, which leaves considerable potential for the role of Microfinance ... Read More

In the spirit of “Exploring Diversity, Promoting Inclusion,” the 2017 AFI Global Policy Forum reminded policymakers from all around the globe of t... Read More

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), GIZ, and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) launched the Financial Inclusion for the Arab Region Initiative (FIA... Read More

The Central Bank of Jordan received the AFI Award for being the most engaged new member in the global network of financial inclusion policymakers, dur... Read More

Financial inclusion efforts in the MENA region are confronted with the global trend of financial institutions reducing risk exposure related to money ... Read More

Under the Auspices of the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Agencies’ Governors, and in the presence of President of Egypt, H.E. Mr. Abdel ... Read More

By Sofia Bublatzky and Atilla Kaiser-Yücel   Visit us at microfinance-mena.org. The programme promotes financial inclusion in Jordan and is carr... Read More

Studying a remarkable success story of consumer counselling, a delegation of the Palestine Monetary Authority visits Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of... Read More

Microfinance institutions, the regulator, other public entities as well as social investors, financial institutions and technical supporters discussed... Read More

“Where do we want to see the Palestinian microfinance sector in five, in ten years?” High level microfinance stakeholders came together in the rou... Read More

New project kicked off: GIZ and Sanad Fund will support the PMA in enhancing its consumer relations halls - an important and unique access point for P... Read More

A microinsurance event took place in Cairo on 7 and 8 May, 2017, under the auspices of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA). The main o... Read More

Financial inclusion is a relatively new concept for the Middle East and it is a high priority for the Government of Jordan. With the rise of new techn... Read More

Financial policymakers and regulators across the Arab region celebrated the Financial Inclusion day on April 27. While the Arab Monetary Fund advocate... Read More

لوريم إيبسوم(Lorem Ipsum) هو ببساطة نص شكلي (بمعنى أن الغاية هي الشكل وليس المحتوى) ويُست... Read More

لوريم إيبسوم(Lorem Ipsum) هو ببساطة نص شكلي (بمعنى أن الغاية هي الشكل وليس المحتوى) ويُست... Read More

The Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI), through its ‘Shaping the Future’ initiative, celebrated the Global Money Week 2017 for the fifth consecutive... Read More

What are women’s needs when it comes to finance? What prospects do digital finance provide? Here are six highlights from the policy discussion on A... Read More

The high-level conference on “Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion in the Arab World” hosted by the Central Bank of Jordan, the Arab Monetary F... Read More

A major step to bridge the gender gap in financial inclusion is to incorporate sex-disaggregated data in a set of main statistics and to develop and m... Read More

Microfinance executives, regulators and development partners came together at the Sanabel conference in Casablanca late last year to elaborate develop... Read More

Womens' participation in the financial system has significant benefits for economic growth, greater equality and social well-being. However, few natio... Read More

Interview with Ali Faroun, Director, Market Conduct Department, Palestinian Monetary Authority.
The Palestine Monetary Authority is developing ... Read More

Interview with Mehrechane Nayel, Senior Policy Advisor & Gender Specialist, GIZ MFMR
The GIZ programme for the “Promotion of the Microfinance... Read More

PMA, Ministry of Education and the Banking Association hosted the “Banking Week” to bring the responsible use of banking products closer to the yo... Read More

As in other emerging markets access to finance remains a major barrier for around half of the 300,000 women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises i... Read More

Interview with Maha Bahou, Executive Manager of the Payments Systems, Banking Operations & Financial Inclusion Division at the Central Bank of Jordan<... Read More

The microfinance sector in Jordan has been growing strongly in recent years. The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) is thus taking over the lead in supervis... Read More

The European Union and Jordan cooperate to stimulate the local economy and create new jobs by including more people and business into the formal finan... Read More

Interview with Nomsa Daniels, CEO of the pan-African advocacy organization Graça Machel Trust.
Nomsa Daniels is the Chief Executive Officer of... Read More

Fostering financial inclusion through the launch of new mobile payment systems regulations and the establishment of the National Payment Council... Read More

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ), the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and GIZ hosted the high-level regional policy forum held under the patronage of Her Maj... Read More

The Moroccan Central Bank and the Moroccan Ministry of Finance hosted a high-level conference on “Financial Education in the Arab World: Strategies,... Read More

Fruitful dialogue between investors, government bodies, development organisations and start-ups at major event for entrepreneurship in North Africa an... Read More

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has put into effect comprehensive and progressive regulations for national digital payments and a platform for mobile... Read More

In the recently founded communication and visibility task force Jordanian Microfinance and Financial Inclusion stakeholders created synergies to facil... Read More

High-ranking government officials and financial sector executives from the region elaborated on the links between financial inclusion and financial an... Read More

The gender gap in access to finance is an obstacle for economic growth, employment opportunities and shared prosperity. To tackle this challenge, the ... Read More

A newly established financial inclusion steering committee endorsed the foundation of Jordan’s financial inclusion policy process in July this year.... Read More

The 2016 Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum (GPF) concluded in Fiji on September 9th with the announcement that the Central Ba... Read More

The Central Bank of Jordan’s Ms. Maha Bahou, Executive Manager of Payments Systems Department, lays out the particular barriers to finance for the y... Read More

Surprising facts and figures were revealed at first roundtable for Financial Inclusion (FI) for the vulnerable during visit of Tanja Gönner, chair of... Read More

Bankers, EFSA respresentatives and other financial experts gather to discuss “Non-Banking Financial Tools for Public and Private Sectors” [Guest p... Read More

A delegation of GIZ partners and representatives of Ministries of Finance, Centrals Banks and the private sector from Egypt, Morocco, the Palestinian ... Read More

Many people in Jordan do not have access to financial services, particularly the youth, women and rural low-income population. Microfinance is an esse... Read More

Through their joint Digi#ances Project, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) and GIZ aim to give the relatively young digital financial services market in... Read More

Within the context of enhancing consumer protection in Palestine, GIZ advises the PMA in the design of a regulation that promotes transparent pricing.... Read More

Development and Employment Fund director, HE Abdullah Al Freij, announced that the Fund through its lending programmes contributed to more than 4,000 ... Read More

Business cases, open discussion, fruitful networking - succesful learning sessions for Egyptian insurance stakeholders... Read More

To gain a higher degree of transparancy the concept of the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) has been introduced to Palestinian Authorities. ... Read More

Subsequent to the third Steering Committee meeting on the development of a National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) in the Palestinian Territories... Read More

Leading Palestinian institutions plan to set up National Financial Inclusion Strategy until the end of 2016.... Read More

Financial Inclusion and Microfinance are typically associated with developing countries. Yet, Germany has went through a distinctive history of financ... Read More

A further step along the way to financial inclusion... Read More

Having attended last year’s Dead Sea policy event about Financial Inclusion and Employment in the MENA co-hosted by CBJ, AMF and GIZ, Simon Bell, th... Read More

The MFMR Programme's partners in Jordan have been awarded for their excellence in contributing to Jordan's public sector services.... Read More

DEF discusses innovations in Financial Inclusion on an international level. ... Read More

In a reflection of the growing commitment with Sustainable Development Goal 5 “gender equality”, the joint application by the GIZ programmes for t... Read More

The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) has become a frontrunner in financial inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa. With his view, Dr. Jihad A... Read More

Taking the next step - cornerstones of a strategy for National Financial Literacy and Inclusion... Read More

Main Jordanian stakeholders of Microfinance sector reform look back on a successful first year and ahead to new challenges. ... Read More

GIZ Jordan has been assigned to implement new project regarding digital remittances, especially for refugees. ... Read More

MFMR and MoPIC evaluate key performance indicators together and draft monitoring framework. ... Read More

The Development and Employment Fund: From Planning to Implementation... Read More

In an effort to promote the Egyptian micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has issued a new definiti... Read More

From November 10-11, 2015 policymakers and financial sector experts from the region and beyond at the ‘Financial Inclusion and Employment in the Ara... Read More

Microfinance sector stakeholders from across the region and beyond convened in Sharm El Sheikh for this year’s annual conference of Sanabel, the reg... Read More

The 11th microinsurance conference held in Casablanca, Morocco in November this year was the first microinsurance conference to be held in the MENA re... Read More

Actions during crisis time of the regulator in the Palestinian case... Read More

New governor in charge at the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA)... Read More

Amman – The Central Bank of Jordan, the Arab Monetary Fund and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Germa... Read More

Major milestone achieved: DEF board of directors approves business plan for 2016-2020... Read More

Recognizing the importance of financial inclusion for financial sector stability and economic growth, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) is expanding it... Read More

Playing a key role in the reform of the Jordanian microfinance sector, the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) is considered a key partner of our MF... Read More

The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), the non-banking financial services regulator and supervisor, undertook a five days knowledge exch... Read More

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) will be taking over a regulatory and supervisory role over MFIs, with the new microfinance bylaw coming into effect i... Read More

In an effort to support the Government of Jordan in reforming the microfinance sector, the German Cooperation and the European Union set up a joint te... Read More

A new regulation in Jordan aims at strengthening the regulatory and supervisory framework of the microfinance sector, while enabling expansion of the ... Read More

Last year, we reported that a set of new regulations was published for the Palestinian microfinance sector. With the beginning of 2015, microfinance p... Read More

First Egyptian Microfinance Law lays path towards stable market... Read More

Around 25% of an estimated 1.6bn Muslims worldwide live on less than USD 1.25 per day. Survey results suggest that Muslims are less likely to have a f... Read More

Deputy Prime Minister highlights importance of common vision ahead of roundtable discussion on Financial Inclusion ... Read More

The GIZ Regional Programme “Promotion of the Microfinance Sector in the MENA Region” (MFMR) hosted its third annual strategic planning workshop wi... Read More

New entry conditions from MFIs required in order to give more security to investments... Read More

Financial inclusion multi-stakeholder strategy process kicked off.... Read More

Sanad and Tanmeyah discuss “Responsible growth models for microfinance in a competitive environment” together with key stakeholders in Amman. ... Read More

Microfinance in the Palestinian Territories and Jordan – similar challenges, but also similar solutions?... Read More

A global view on the financial consumer protection... Read More

Building women-focused finance in MENA and beyond... Read More

JOINT EXPERT WORKSHOP BETWEEN GIZ AND ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK ON ISLAMIC MICROFINANCE... Read More

Signing ceremony held for the establishment of ACAD Finance Company between the Arab Center for Agricultural Development "ACAD", European Investment B... Read More

MFMR programme coordinator gives overview over Financial Inclusion strategies at SANABEL conference... Read More

Egyptian Microfinance supervisory representatives gather for microfinance and financial analysis basics training... Read More

PMA representatives participate in training for Microfinance regulation and supervision to foster financial stability in the Palestinian Territories... Read More

PMA honoured for excellent work... Read More

Central Bank of Jordan and Tanmeyah with valuable learnings and take-aways from study trip to Armenia. ... Read More

Sector participants inform her Majesty Queen Rania about Microfinance in Jordan. ... Read More

GIZ, Silatech and Sanabel have signed a partnership agreement to provide Youth Savings Initiatives for low-income youth in the Middle East and North A... Read More

PMA in Partnership with Saharaka, BMZ, GIZ Organizes a Workshop on the Role of the Microfinance Institutions in Financial Inclusion... Read More