In October and November this year, the Commissioner visited Morocco and Singapore to talk with financial policy-makers, entrepreneurial innovators, and non-profit organisations about the future of financial services. The visits were valuable opportunities to discuss the Commission’s work with partners from around the globe.

Morocco

Commissioner McGuinness visited Morocco for the 2023 World Bank Group - IMF Annual Meetings. She paid tribute to the courage of Moroccans, rebuilding and recovering from the recent terrible earthquakes. Discussions at the Meetings centred around areas such as sustainable finance, economic resilience, global cooperation, and inclusion within the financial system.

One of the main themes of the event was ‘building economic resilience’ to withstand the threats facing the world economy, including climate change, geopolitical events, and the risks of future pandemics. International cooperation on tackling these common threats is vital to ensuring a stable and resilient financial system, but building this resilience will require new investment in responses to these risks, such as the Green Transition. Sustainable financing is an essential part in this response, which will lead to stronger and more resilient economies whilst also addressing the causes of these threats. 

Securing international cooperation on sustainable finance was a frequent theme of the Commissioner’s discussions throughout her visit. In her meeting with Minister for Finance of Morocco, Nadia Fettah, the Commissioner discussed Europe and Morocco’s approaches on financing the green transition as well as the importance of financial education and inclusion. Another prominent issue during the visit was the need to promote financial education and include more people within the financial system, which is the mission of organisations like the Moroccan Foundation for Financial Education. The Commissioner’s meeting with the Foundation focussed on their experience in tackling this issue and how Morocco has responded to these challenges. The EU has recently adopted with the OECD a financial competence framework for young people. Making sure you know how to take the right financial decisions is essential throughout life, especially for women and other groups within our society.

Singapore

Another common challenge facing the world’s economies is how to harness the opportunities provided by digital finance to deepen the economic links between our countries. International cooperation in the regulatory approach to digital finance is therefore essential to making the most of these opportunities.

The Commissioner’s visit to Singapore for the Singapore Fintech Festival, one of the largest events in the Fintech industry, provided a forum to meet regulatory colleagues and Fintech innovators and to discuss the future of the financial digital transition. It was an opportunity for the Commissioner to promote the value of a well-regulated digital financial economy. In the EU, we’ve developed policies so as to ensure technologies develop in a well-regulated way, in particular to ensure our financial systems remain stable and our institutions resilient (e.g. against cyber attacks or operational risks).

Although the Festival was focussed on financial technology, the Commissioner’s discussions there also covered areas including sustainable finance and central bank digital currencies. The Commissioner’s meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, was therefore a valuable opportunity to learn from Singapore’s experience in these areas and to discuss how we can coordinate more closely in the future.