The Indonesian ResponsiBank Coalition held a public lecture on “Indonesian Banking Investment Policy and Financial Inclusion for Women” on the campus of the University of North Sumatra on Thursday, February 25, 2016. The ResponsiBank Coalition which consisted of the PRAKARSA Association, YLKI (Indonesian Consumer Institution Foundation), WALHI (The Indonesian Forum for the Environment), Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, ICW (Indonesian Corruption Watch), INFID (International NGO Forum for Indonesian Development) and TuK (Transparency for Justice) strive to encourage a better and more responsible banking industry, as part from the Fair Finance Guide International Network (FFGI) in ten countries.
Rotua Nuraini Tampubolon, coordinator of the Indonesian ResponsiBank Coalition who is a Sustainable Development researcher at the Prakarsa Association stated, “The banking industry has an intermediary role in the development process, which is collecting public funds through savings and channeling them through credit and investment. Because it manages public funds, banks must have investment policies that are accountable to the public as well, not only pursuing profits but also taking into account the people and planetary factors.”
Mouna Wasef, ICW (Indonesian Corruption Watch) researcher believes that banks must apply the principles of transparency and accountability in lending and investing. “On the other hand, the community as the owner of the funds must begin to realize and want to care. We have to monitor the money we save, not to use it to invest in companies that damage the environment or violate human rights, for example, “Mouna said.
Dr. Nurbani Monor, Chair of the USU Women’s Study Center, emphasized the importance of financial inclusion for women. “There are still many groups of people who are not reached by banking services (unbankable), especially low-income marginal groups or non-permanent income from the small and medium business sector. As a result, these community groups have finally been marginalized and cannot contribute optimally to the economy. Therefore, banks need to make financial inclusion efforts by providing access to banking services and services such as savings and loans to this community group, including women’s groups “said Dr. Nurbani
“Our goal in holding this public lecture is to build awareness of bank customers, especially students as beginner customers so that they want to jointly supervise the funds they hold in the bank so that they can be used as much as possible for poverty alleviation and sustainable development,” concluded Rotua.
Contact Person: Nuraini Tampubolon (Phone: 08116500086)