The U.S. Agency for International Development/World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) Economic Inclusion Project introduced to more than 100 representatives of Peru’s financial sector a formal guide that will help them identify the types of assistance refugee and migrant populations need to access formal financial services, and the best practices to help facilitate their financial inclusion.

Executives from FENACREP, WOCCU’s direct member credit union association in Peru, and several other financial services’ associations were on hand for the launch of ”The Practical Guide for the Financial Inclusion of the Refugee and Migrant Population”, 

It includes specific information on:

• Types of identification documents refugee and migrant populations carry and the mechanisms for validating the information contained in them.
• Ways to facilitate the design of strategies that promote the financial inclusion of refugees and migrants in Peru.
• Sound practices currently implemented by financial service providers who work with these populations.

In the last decade, Peru has shown a commitment to promote financial inclusion through its National Financial Inclusion Policy and its Multisectoral Strategic Plan. The position stated in the National Financial Inclusion Policy is that more inclusion in the formal financial system will lead to improving the economic well-being of the population, promote economic development and financial stability, and provide for a more competition and productivity.

Danielle Spinard, Director of the Regional Office of Health and Migration for USAID Peru, spoke at the event, along with Armando Garcia Chunga, Peru’s National Superintendent of Migrations, and Mariella Zaldivar, Assistant Superintendent of Market Conduct and Financial Inclusion of Peru’s Superintendency of Banking (SBS).

The Economic Inclusion Project also plans to introduce a second version of “The Practical Guide for the Financial Inclusion of the Refugee and Migrant Population” in Ecuador.