Appropriate consumer protection is becoming ever more central to ensuring the financial wellbeing of the poor. Ensuring that consumers are able to select and use financial products to their best advantage is a key component of financial inclusion. Without a robust consumer protection framework, even the most educated and capable consumer is likely to have difficulty making prudent financial choices. It is vital that policies aiming to protect consumers account for lessons from behavioral economics and be subject to testing before they are nationally scaled. IPA’s Financial Inclusion Program in collaboration with CGAP held a one-day workshop to discuss the current state of evidence and guide the direction of investments in research in this space.

The following are the details about the sessions and content that was covered during the event:

The Need for Better Consumer Protection Policies and Practices

Presenter 1: Boniface Kamiti, Manager, Consumer Protection, Competition Authority of Kenya
Presenter 2: Dean Karlan, Professor of Economics and Founder of IPA, Yale University
 

Disclosure: Evidence and Innovation (view presentation)

Presenter: Michael King, Assistant Professor of Economics, Trinity College Dublin 
Discussant: Julienne Lauler, ODI Research Fellow, Financial Stability and Access Division, Research Department, Central Bank of Kenya
 

Busara Lab Demo Results

Presenter: Roberto Figari, Associate, Busara Center for Behavioral Economics
 

Consumer Protection Beyond the Competitive Benchmark (view presentation)

Presenter: Paolina Medina, Assistant Professor of Finance, Texas A&M University
Discussant: Mac Lennarz, Juntos Global
 

Electronic Wage Payments: Promise and Pitfalls Evidence from Bangladesh (view presentation)

Presenter: Martin Kanz, Economist-Finance Team of the Development Research Group, World Bank 
Discussant: Anna Abayo, Acting Director of Market Conduct Supervision and Licensing, Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority
 

FinTech: Regulating the Frontiers in Digital Financial Services (view presentation)

Presenter: Adair Morse, Associate Professor, University of California at Berkeley 
Discussant: Muhammad Akmal Bahtti, Director, Banking Conduct and Consumer Protection Department, State Bank of Pakistan
 

Responsible Digital Finance (view presentation)

Presenter: Rafe Mazer, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP 
Discussant: Ibrahim Umar Hassan, Assistant Director, Financial Literacy, Consumer Protection Departments, Central Bank of Nigeria 
Discussant: Teki Akuetteh Falconer, Member and Executive Director, Ghana Data Protection Commission
 

High-Impact Areas for Investment in Future Research

Presenters: IPA and CGAP staff