The Banking Executive Magazine - May 2022 Issue

Arab Central Banks ities' Governors observed the ‘Arab Day for Financial Inclusion’, which is held on April 27 of each year. For the events of 2022, it was held under the overarching theme of: "Impor- tance of the Social Responsibility of Financial and Banking Institutions in Increasing Financial Inclusion". In this context, it is worth emphasiz- ing the importance of adopting a strategy of social responsibility that aims at pursuing additional develop- ment and empowerment of commu- nity members in the Arab region, and supporting the financial and banking sector to strengthen the impact of so- cial responsibility on financial inclu- sion, in addition to using appropriate tools and mechanisms to verify the inclusion of social and environmen- tal responsibility in the strategies and policies of financial institutions, and verifying the progress of indicators in this regard and highlight them in the periodic reports drawn up by these institutions. Arab central banks and monetary au- thorities are keen to support the ef- forts of the international community in increasing sustainable finance and financial inclusion. In the foreground comes the support for the implemen- tation of the sustainable develop- ment goals issued by the United Na- tions and their close relationship to the issues of social and environmen- tal responsibility, and the support for the efforts of the Group of Twenty (G20), which has adopted the pillar of financial inclusion as one of the main pillars to support the sustain- able development goals and en- hance financial stability. The G20 pays special attention to supporting the access of youth, women, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to financial services, and to grow awareness and community fi- nancial literacy that enhance the suc- cess of efforts and policies in this regard. Given the increasing importance of the issues of promoting social and environmental responsibility in fi- nancial services, the Council appre- ciates the activities included in the "Financial Inclusion for the Arab Re- gion Initiative" (FIARI), that focus on the social responsibility of financial and banking institutions in increasing financial inclusion in 2022, and the attention that the partner institutions in the FIARI pay to enhance the awareness of social responsibility of financial and banking institutions and apply the fundamentals of sus- tainable finance, and build consumer confidence in the social responsibil- ity of financial and banking institu- tions. The procedures and measures taken by the monetary and financial au- thorities in the Arab countries to ad- vance the social and environmental responsibility of the financial and banking institutions should be com- mended to promote the transition to- wards sustainable finance, based on considering the environmental risks resulting from climate change when formulating financial and monetary objectives. ISSUE 161 MAY 2022 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 47