Tag: Bank of PNG

The Bank of Papua New Guinea collaborates with the Global Green Growth Institute to launch Papua New Guinea’s Green Finance Centre

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, March 25, 2024. The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) in close collaboration with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) together with other key partners including the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI), the Department of Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA), the Department of Treasury, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (NZ MFAT) and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) all gathered at the Hilton Hotel to launch Papua New Guinea’s Green Finance Centre (GFC).

GGGI, as the main delivery partner and CEFI as a champion in financial inclusion teamed up to develop the Inclusive Green Finance Policy (IGFP) back in 2021. GGGI received a total funding of USD 670,000 from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) under the Low Emission Climate Resilient Development Program (LECRD) program for the initiative which includes the establishment of the GFC.

The GFC will now serve as the entity responsible for overseeing the implementation of IGFP and all future initiatives related to green finance flows in the country. Its core objective would be to address environmental and climate challenges in PNG and promote sustainable economic growth through innovative, yet inclusive climate financing and green investment mechanisms and it will be guided by a steering committee that is chaired by BPNG.

During the launch, GFC’s logo and website were unveiled by the guest of honour, Chief Secretary to the Government of Papua New Guinea Mr. Ivan Pomaleu OBE, Conservation Environment & Climate Change Minister Hon Simo Kilepa MP, and the Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea Mrs. Elizabeth Genia.

Other high-profile guests who were present at the auspicious launch included New Zealand High Commissioner to PNG, HE Pete Zwart, France Ambassador to PNG, HE Guillaume Lemoine, GGGI Country Representative Mr. Sakiusa Tuisolia, AFD Executive Director Mr. Philippe Orliange, AFI Executive Director Dr Alfred Hannig, BPNG Assistant Governor Mr. George Awap and CEFI Chief Executive Officer Mr. Saliya Ranasinghe.

Coinciding with the launch was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) among BPNG, GGGI and the three financial Institutions; Bank of South Pacific Group (BSP Group), Nationwide Mirco Bank (MiBank) and Women’s Micro Bank (Mama Bank) to integrate the IGFP onto their books to develop green loan products.

Also at the launch, AFD signed a 6 million Euros grant agreement with GGGI as the delivery partner of Greening the Pacific’s Financial System. Under this grant, PNG through the GFC will receive 1 million Euros to support the ongoing work of IGFP implementation and an additional 1.8 million Euros for designing and capitalizing of a Green Refinancing Facility.

The guest of honour in his keynote remarks praised the establishment of the GFC that it is a bold step forward in greening PNG’s financial sector and will mobilize green investment opportunities to address climate change impacts to ensure a more resilient future for Papua New Guineans. “In line with the Government’s mandate, the Green Finance Centre will strongly advocate for banks to channel loan investments in sectors such as Agriculture, Energy, SMEs and Bioeconomy to promote low-emission options to reduce our carbon footprint and lead by

example in the region and globally, demonstrating our commitment to addressing climate change impacts,” said Mr. Pomaleu.

BPNG Governor Mrs. Elizabeth Genia echoed BPNG’s commitment to this endeavour. “The Bank of Papua New Guinea is committed to promoting national financial inclusion and the greening of the financial sector and the launch of the Green Finance Centre underscores the commitment of all stakeholders involved to drive sustainable development and address climate change challenges through innovative financial mechanisms,” said Mrs. Genia.

Mrs. Genia also thanked CEFI and GGGI for their tremendous work in developing IGFP and now establishment of GFC.

The New Zealand High Commissioner to PNG, HE Peter Zwart, emphasized that climate change and its impacts are real, and that responsive climate action is increasingly urgent. He said, “The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is proud to provide funding for IGFP and collaborate with the Bank of Papua New Guinea and GGGI in establishing the Green Finance Centre which will play a crucial role in working with financial institutions to mobilize increased green lending and investments in Papua New Guinea.”

The France Ambassador to PNG HE Guillaume Lemoine also emphasized the importance of the initiative giving similar remarks saying “Greening the financial system in PNG is crucial towards the fight against climate change and I am proud that France is happy to help PNG tackle this. PNG is a role model in the Pacific, and we wish all the best to the team involved.”

Other VIPs that also spoke during the occasion were AFI Executive Director Dr Alfred Hannig, AFD Executive Director Mr. Philippe Orliange and BPNG Assistant Governor Mr. George Awap who all highly commended the significance of the Green Finance Centre.

The Inclusive green finance initiative is in line with BPNG – CEFI’s Third National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS 3) (2023-2027) and PNG’s climatic goals stated in PNG Vision 2050 and Medium-Term Development Plan IV (2023-2027). The GFC is located within the CEFI office on Level Three, Credit Corp Building, Downtown Port Moresby. For more information on GFC, kindly visit GFC’s website, www.gfcpng.com or send an inquiry to infor@gfcpng.com

Tags Bank of PNG, cefi, financial inclusion, GGGI, green finance, Green Finance Centre

Media Releases

CGC Signs Agreements with Financial Institutions to provide credit guarantee for SMEs

Post author By Leslie Omaro
Post date January 24, 2024
No Comments on CGC Signs Agreements with Financial Institutions to provide credit guarantee for SMEs

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea – January 19, 2024 – The Credit Guarantee Corporation Limited (CGC) is pleased to announce the signing of groundbreaking agreements with ten leading financial institutions in the country aimed at providing critical credit guarantees to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

These landmark agreements reinforces CGC’s commitment to bolstering the growth and development of SMEs, which are the backbone of the PNG’s economy. By partnering with financial institutions, CGC aims to alleviate the obstacles faced by SMEs in accessing affordable credit to develop and grow their business and ultimately contributing to economic growth and job creation in the country.

Under the newly inked agreements with FinCorp, Financial & Private Sector Staff Savings & Loans Society Limited, Kina Bank, MiBank, Moni Plus, Nasfund Contributors Savings and Loan Society Limited, Nambawan Savings and Loan Society Limited, Peoples Microbank Limited, Resources & Investment Finance Limited and Womens Microbank, CGC will provide credit guarantees to the partnering financial institutions, enabling them to extend much-needed credit facilities to SMEs. Through this collaboration, SMEs will have improved access to financing, allowing them to expand their businesses, create employment opportunities, and contribute to the overall economic growth of PNG.

In a speech delivered for the Prime Minister by the Chief Secretary Mr. Ivan Pomeleu, he said, “Today marks a significant step forward in our collective and sustained efforts to foster economic growth, support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and create avenues for increased employment opportunities.”

Mrs. Elizabeth Genia, Governor of the Bank of PNG said, “CGC’s role is a strategic enabler and the signing of the agreements today is also the start of the long journey to achieving the various strategic objectives set by the Government, notably the SME Policy, the PNG Development Strategic Plan, Vision 2050, the Financial Inclusion Policy, the Green Finance Policy and the recently launched Medium Term development plan IV, amongst others.

Mr. Dominic Sikakau, CEO of CGC, expressed his enthusiasm about the agreements, stating, “These partnerships mark a significant milestone in our efforts to empower SMEs and drive economic growth in PNG. By providing credit guarantees to our partnering financial institutions, we are facilitating increased access to finance for SMEs, nurturing entrepreneurship, and encouraging growth across different sectors of our economy.”

Mr. John Cholai, Chairman of Nambawan Super Savings and Loans (NSLS) in his remarks said “CGC provide NSLS the confidence to enter the MSME space, a space that for a long time has been occupied by commercial banks. The support will allow us to grow our capacity and capability into expanding out more

to the MSME space and off course the self-employed sector. 0ver 43% of our membership are females and the CGC offers us great opportunity to support women in business, while promoting ‘saving first culture’.”

The signing ceremony was attended by Chief Secretary on behalf of the Prime Minister, CEOs of various participating financial institutions, the Governor of Bank of PNG, representatives from various government departments and donor agencies, underscoring the collaborative and concerted effort to address the financing needs of SMEs in PNG.

The agreements signify a crucial step forward for CGC in supporting the growth and sustainability of SMEs, as well as the overall economic development of PNG. CGC remains dedicated to fostering an environment where SMEs can thrive, innovate, and contribute to the nation’s prosperity.

For more information about the CGC and its initiatives, please visit www.cgc.com.pg

Media Contact:

Judith Kasek

Marketing & Communications Officer Credit Guarantee Corporation Phone: +675 3227458

Email: jkasek@cgc.com.pg

Tags Bank of PNG, cefi, cgc

Media Releases

CEFI Launch New Website

The Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion launched its new revamped website on Wednesday July 12 marking a very important milestone for the organization’s marketing and communication. The new CEFI website can be found at https://www.thecefi.org/

CEFI Executive Director Mr. Garima Tongia after launching the new CEFI website emphasized on the importance of a website saying it is the main tool of communication, marketing and awareness in organizations.

“A revamped, revitalized and brand website is very important for CEFI because it will educate people who want to know more about CEFI and also do business with us,” Mr. Tongia said.

“At CEFI we realize the importance of having a website that is simple, efficient, user friendly and incorporating key features of style and must remain modern and current,” he added.

“It took us three years to finally complete the project and thank you SNS Tech for your patience with us and for finally delivering our new website.”

Mr. Jacob Segodi from SNS Tech, who gave a brief on the overall project, thanked CEFI for engaging SNS Tech to develop CEFI’s website adding they were happy that the project was a success and will continue to work with CEFI on the website.

The Executive Director highlighted other important cutting edge technology projects also that CEFI is currently undertaking and promoting on its website apart from its other core functions.

Some of these projects include, Business Link Pacific, Ledger Pal Application, Market for Village Farmers project, Inclusive Green Finance Project and the World Bank on Child Nutrition programme.

“These are some of the projects CEFI is involved in that people don’t know about that is why a new improved and reinvigorate website is important to market and communicate these projects,” he said.

“We will continue to update from time to time to reflect the changes that are happening and I’m certain SNS Tech will be happy to work with us,” Mr. Tongia said.

The CEFI website has undergone a number of developments and the current website is built on WordPress platform and page builder application.

Discussions on redeveloping and revamping the CEFI website started in 2021 while diagnostic work started in 2022 around reviewing of website pages by CEFI managers and the Executive Director, which cumulated into the signing of a service agreement between CEFI and website developer SNS Tech in 2023 and start of the project.

The focus of the project was on website revamp, redesigning and search engine optimization.

The CEFI Website team undertook two separate trainings delivered by SNS Tech to administer the front end of the website.

Tags Bank, Bank of PNG, cefi, centre, excellence, Finance, financial, gggc, green, inclusion

Media Releases

Launching of the Third National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2023-2027

Post author By support@sns.technology
Post date May 24, 2023
No Comments on Launching of the Third National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2023-2027

The third National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2023-2027 was launched at the Hilton Hotel on 25th April, 2023 by the Chief Secretary, Ivan Pomaleu, OBE.

The Chief Secretary was honoured to launch the 3rd National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2023-2027 at this great event, stating the importance of Financial Inclusion in the country.

“We (the government) believe that financial inclusion is key to integrating the unbanked into the formal economy, which helps to alleviate poverty, make the poor less vulnerable to financial shocks, reduces economic inequality and raises living standards for all,” said the Chief Secretary.

The Chief Secretary emphasized specifically on how the NFIS is receptive to global trends, emerging issues, digital financial services and gender.

Mr. Pomaleu also highlighted the importance of the financial inclusion strategy in embracing the green finance policy and contribution of financial inclusion in financial stability for the unbanked and underbanked individuals and small businesses.

He said financial inclusion is the development priority for the government due to increase in income inequality between the lower- and higher-class societies.

“Financial inclusion is one of the key enablers of many of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations and serves as a powerful element for progress in education, health and other basic public needs, as well as contributing even to climate change and sustainable development,” he said.

Bank of Papua New Guinea Acting Governor, Mrs. Elizabeth Genia in presenting the NFIS stated that the Bank recognises that expanding financial services can encourage the participation of more Papua New Guineans, especially those in rural areas and urban settlements, in development activities in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy, and that the benefits of growth and technology need to be widely shared.

“Many Papua New Guineans find themselves on the fringes of the monetary economy with little understanding of, or access to financial services. Improvement in the proportion of the banked population and the financial literacy of this population will empower them to improve outcomes in savings, investment and sharing of the benefits of economic growth,” said Mrs. Genia.

The Acting Governor stated that the overall objective of Third National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS3) is to reach 2 million unbanked population by 2027 of whom 50% will be women.

“It’s also important that the strategy focuses on reaching our women and youth. Access to financial services for women and youth will remain a challenge. As indicated in the strategy, use of new technology and innovative business models will overcome barriers to access and improve inclusion for women and youth,” said the Acting Governor.

Assistant Governor, Financial System Stability Group – Bank of PNG, Mr. George Awap thanked and commended the stakeholders for recognising financial inclusion as an essential component of Papua New Guinea’s development plan.

“The Central Bank embedded various initiatives in PNG to fight financial exclusion can be traced back to the development of National Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy Strategy 2014-2015 followed by the Second National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2016-2020,” said Mr. Awap.

“Building on the success of the first and second national strategy implementations and lessons learnt in the process, CEFI and BPNG developed the third NFIS 2023-2027,” he added.

CEFI Financial Inclusion Advisor, Mr. Saliya Ranasinghe, was grateful to the institutions that participated in the studies of the third NFIS strategy.

“The NFIS basically outlines building capacities, establishing partnerships with public and private sector creating space for innovation and using technology to reach the unreached,” said Mr. Ranasinghe during his NFIS presentation.

Mr. Ranasignhe in his presentation of the NFIS, highlighted the main strategic objectives which were, build financial competency through financial literacy and education, create an enabling policy and regulatory environment, develop effective public and private sector engagement, develop an enabling environment for inclusive green finance and deepened financial services.

Chief Executive Officer’s from nine financial institutions, including BSP, Kina, Westpac, Digicel, Savings and Loans Federation, Nationwide Micro Bank, Womens Miro Bank, People’s Micro Bank, Kada Poroman Microfinance, participated in a signing of contract ‘I-Commit’ with the Acting Governor of the Bank of PNG, Mrs. Elizabeth Genia.

I-Commit (Institutional Commitment of Measurable Inclusion Targets) is a set of measurable commitments by the financial service providers to achieve financial inclusion targets and thereby contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic growth in PNG.

The launch ended on a high note with the announcement of the Financial Inclusion Excellence Awards (FIEA) by the Assistant Governor, FSSG Mr. George Awap.

The awards will be given in the following categories: Financial Inclusion and Deepening Award, Financial Innovation Award, Inclusive Green Finance Award, Financial Inclusion Media Contribution Award, Financial Inclusion Advocate Award and the Financial Inclusion New Player Award which will be awarded in November 2024.

Tags Bank of PNG, financial inclusion, financial literacy, financial literacy strategy, National Financial Inclusion Strategy

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