National Observatory On The Financial Inclusion Of Migrants

Concept and project

The National Observatory on the Financial Inclusion of Migrants is a multi-year project, born from the collaboration between the Ministry of the Interior and the Italian Banking Association (ABI). First initiative of this nature in Italy and in Europe, the Observatory aims at providing a tool for analysis and a constant and organic monitoring of the phenomenon of financial inclusion of migrants in our country, as a prerequisite to promote the integration process. It provides operators and institutions with specific knowledge and interaction tools, with a view to enabling them to identify and define integrated strategies for strengthening and expansion of the integration process.

The Project, funded by the European Commission and the Ministry of the Interior (Fondo Asilo Migrazione e Integrazione) was awarded to CeSPI on the basis of a public tender.

Whom it is addressed to and its purpose

If we define financial inclusion as “the complex of activities developed to facilitate the access and effective use of financial services by subjects not yet fully integrated into the formal financial system”, the Observatory is addressed to operators of the financial system, public institutions, authorities and migrant communities by providing monitoring of the phenomenon and its evolution, and offering support in drawing, strengthening and sustaining policies and initiatives for financial inclusion.

The Observatory monitors the phenomenon in its complexity and heterogeneity, investigating it from the point of view of supply (financial operators), demand (migrants) and entrepreneurship owned by immigrants.

Objectives and results

The activities of the Observatory are oriented to providing an integrated system of information (quantitative and qualitative) and tools for operators, policy makers and migrants on the process of financial inclusion of migrants seen as a whole, becoming a national reference point in the field.

The National Observatory on the Financial Inclusion of Migrants therefore intends to respond to these needs:

INFORMATION: monitoring the phenomenon and providing an integrated system of updated information, on an annual basis, in order to highlight the evolution over time of the phenomena.

SUPPORT: supporting and strengthening the process of financial inclusion and the evolution of the bankarization of migrants towards more advanced financial profiles and the strengthening of immigrant entrepreneurship.

COMPARISON: creating tables for comparison and interaction between operators and institutions and between them and migrants, for the definition of strategies both on the operational level and on that of policies and incentives.

TRAINING: providing adequate tools aimed at operators, policy makers, migrant associations for an “education” to financial inclusion.