BEIRUT: Although the financial inclusion rate in Lebanon is only 40 percent, and despite many efforts by the Association of banks in lebanon (ABL) and Central Bank to improve it, there has been zero progress in this realm in Lebanon, Omar El-Zein of Bank Audi said. According to the World Bank, financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses can access useful and affordable financial products and services such as transactions and payments which are delivered in a sustainable way.

As we all know, the financial inclusion rate in Lebanon is only 40 percent, which is a bad indicator for the economy. Yet, I can tell you that there has been zero progress in financial inclusion these past four to five years, Zein said. Zein made these comments in the context of his tech talk titled Digital Infrastructure in Lebanon at the opening of the SmartEx exhibition Wednesday at the Seaside Arena in Beirut.

In its third year, the four-day innovations platform features a wide array of the countrys technology sector, ranging from telecommunications to security systems, financial services and event organization.

Zeins talk made it painfully clear that the financial sector, traditionally Lebanons pride and joy, is not exempt from a lack of digitization. In fact, it is one of the countrys sectors where digital progress has been particularly slow despite many efforts to invigorate and modernize it.

Zein presented the main points of a digitization document he drafted with the ABL to increase financial inclusion by modernizing financial services in the country. I believe this plan is kind of like a closed circle and the digital identification number is the center of this plan. The digital identification will increase financial inclusion and it will fight corruption.

Zein believes that the element of combating corruption, and the monetary rewards that will follow suit, is the reason why the new government seems more willing to speed up digitization when previous governments did not seem particularly eager to do so. We know that with all the CEDRE money that will hopefully start flowing into the country there is a lot of required reforms needed. And that is why Law 81 came out. So we know that the World Bank and other institutions are pushing the government and the Central Bank toward digitization.

Zein also warned that, if reforms are not implemented soon, Lebanese banks will be cut out as the middle man in the next evolutionary step in the banking sector: conversational banking.

Banking through chat and voice messaging, which he says will come to fruition in Lebanon in 2020 through the recently launched WhatsApp Business API, is the future of banking, Zein said.

If we dont digitize the whole banking and financial sector, we cant offer our clients the right customer experience so that they will feel comfortable enough to partner with us when these companies come. Otherwise they will forego us and just profit from these products by themselves. And then all of us will end up losing.

Zein stressed that there really is no time to waste. This plan needs to be implemented aggressively and fast.

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