Alfonso Garcia Mora, VP for Asia and Pacific at International Finance Corporation, recently commented on how Fintech can play a key role in a post-COVID environment.
Mora, whose comments came during “Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia” from the sidelines of the Singapore Fintech Festival, said that the pandemic is really raising or enhancing some of the major problems in our economies.
He remarked:
“I think that digital [or] Fintech will play a significant role in the recovery phase….there are 3 billion people in the world that don’t have access to the Internet or access to any digital device. So these people are left behind in this recovery. Therefore, it’s very important to continue the digitalization to provide digital means to people that can really get into the economy….”
Mora continued:
“Fintech allows people to have access to digital financial services without the need to go to specific branches or specific locations….We need to create the [right] conditions for the private sector to come back again … [so that they can] help in the recovery [process.] The role of the private sector is more [important] than ever due to the circumstances of this pandemic….”
Mora added that the public sector can try to help the private sector by covering part of the overall risk that they take. However, he also recommended that the public sector should not try to completely take over in a particular area. It should mainly serve a supporting role as the private organizations or businesses do their part to help during the recovery phase, Mora suggested.
While commenting on regulatory reforms, Mora noted that we need to avoid companies or initiatives that might be viable but are not liquid. He believes there should be a robust insolvency framework in place while supporting appropriate corporate restructuring strategies. He also thinks we should create the right conditions for climate related businesses so that we can minimize the potential environment-related risks to the economy.
Mora is responsible for various IFC operations in the Asia and Pacific region, such as operationalizing the organization’s COVID-related crisis response. He’s also tasked with establishing a strong Upstream pipeline rooted in specific country strategies while supporting different collaboration opportunities with a range of stakeholders for broader or maximum impact.
IFC is notably one of the largest global development institutions that’s focused on the private sector in developing nations. IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and remains committed to supporting economic development while improving the day-to-day lives of people throughout the world.