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Financial Inclusion and Digital Policy Specialist

Employer
Karandaaz
Location
Islamabad (PK)
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Oct 24, 2021

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Job Role
Other
Sector
Other
Contract Type
Contract
Hours
Full Time

Job Details

Position Summary

The Financial Inclusion and Digital Policy Specialist will be engaged in policy research and discussions with market actors – banks, fin techs, technology platforms, government ministries and relevant departments to contribute to enhancements in policies to enable digital financial inclusion of underserved market in Pakistan. The individual will need to keep abreast of all national and international conventions, policies, research, conferences, working groups and discussion forums to serve as a conduit for knowledge on best practices and their introduction into the financial inclusion and digital ecosystem of the country. The Financial Inclusion and Digital Policy Specialist will also work closely with regulators to ensure that their needs are met with respect to developing their skills, knowledge and competencies as regulators.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

The Financial Inclusion and Digital Policy Specialist will work with other Karandaaz teams engaging in issue based non-partisan research and advocacy to inform deliberations around the regulatory and policy barriers, provide technical advice or assistance in response to written invitations / requests from relevant government agencies and focus on facilitating policy development through public-private dialogue and consensus building. Specifically, the Financial Inclusion and Digital Policy Specialist will:

  • Conduct regulatory and policy research and analysis to inform deliberations around the remaining policy and regulatory barriers to digital financial inclusion and a digital finance ecosystem
  • Identify challenges specific to women gaining access to digital financial services at the household, retail, and broad market levels
  • Support market actors and other relevant organizations to identify market constraints that are connected to, or affected by policy and regulation
  • Work with other teams to design and conduct research into the policy and regulatory barriers to financial inclusion, and a critical review of successful policy and regulatory interventions in other regions that can be replicated or adopted in Pakistan
  • Develop an advocacy strategy to persuade key stakeholders (government departments, regulators and others) to undertake necessary policy change
  • Support regulators through the localization of global learning outputs produced by global learning partners
  • Support the development of regulatory decision making tools such as geo-spatial tracking systems
  • Align the agenda of policy and regulatory support work stream with the priorities of the Government
  • Organize meetings, discussions, presentations, and workshops to inform policy and regulatory deliberations
  • Author and contribute to the development of policy briefs, newspaper articles, presentations and blog posts on policy and regulatory interventions that lead to uptake and usage of digital financial services (especially amongst poor customers), policy and regulatory barriers to digital financial inclusion, and/or relevant developments from other countries
  • Leverage the Innovation & Incubation work stream to encourage regulators and market players to pilot proposed policy changes
  • Support stakeholder associations, and participate in the development of key policies in partnership with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP), PTA, Ministry of IT & Telecom and Ministry of Commerce, among others

Candidate Eligibility

  • At least 6 years’ experience in a public policy role either by working in a government or regulatory role, or a public policy role in another professional body or in the private sector
  • Master’s degree in policy, technology, business or related field from a renowned and accredited institute locally or internationally (highly preferred if coupled with a Bachelor’s degree in a technology related field)
  • CIMA Professional Qualification
  • Highly conversant with the field of digital financial services, with in-depth understanding of digital ecosystems including concepts of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data sharing, identity stacks, KYC facilities, taxation and pricing of digital services, digital payments systems, etc.
  • Senior leadership and project management experience in implementing policy related interventions
  • Expertise in digital financial services policy, regulation and supervision, with a strong engagement at country level; knowledge of digital financial services space will be considered a strong advantage
  • Ability to establish priorities and manage a complex workload in order to meet tight deadlines
  • Ability to build relationships with staff, government officers and key external influencers
  • Ability to communicate complex ideas and recommendations to a diverse set of stakeholders including highly technical and non-technical members
  • Ability to work independently and with considerable discretion but to seek advice as required
  • Excellent national and international networking skills
  • Excellent writing and presentation skills
  • Strong command of oral and written English, and strong working knowledge of Urdu

Company

Karandaaz Pakistan, a Section 42 company established in August 2014, promotes access to finance for small businesses through a commercially directed investment platform, and financial inclusion for individuals by employing technology enabled digital solutions. The Company has financial and institutional support from leading international development finance institutions; principally the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

The Company has four verticals:

  • Karandaaz Capital provides wholesale structured credit and equity-linked direct growth capital investments in micro, small and mid-size enterprises (MSMEs) with compelling prospects for sustainable growth and employment generation in Pakistan
  • Karandaaz Digital focuses on expanding the poor’s access to digital financial services in Pakistan by working across the ecosystem with all stakeholders including regulators, policy-makers, government departments, businesses and researchers and academics with activities arranged in four key work areas–Policy and Regulation, Seeding Innovation, Experimentation and Solutions Development, and Scale and Outreach.
  • Karandaaz Innovation manages the Innovation Challenge Fund, providing risk capital and grants to partners with an aim to generate innovative solutions to complex problems in areas of financial inclusion and entrepreneurship.
  • Knowledge Management and Communications supports the company's core financial inclusion goal by developing and disseminating evidence based insights and solutions to influence markets and the financial ecosystem.
Company info
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