Explore the transformative role of banking as it relates to migrants and social inclusion…

Money has no borders, but countries do. As long as there are borders, we are faced with questions of social inclusion, and money plays an important part in that. In the best of times banks and other financial institutions find it challenging to get money into the hands of people working in the informal economy or people without addresses. GABV banks across the world have been unique in their ability to respond to these challenges. Whether people working in the market in Arequipa or newly arrived immigrants in Minneapolis, the GABV banks have found creative ways to make banking accessible to migrants and refugees. But more needs to be done to influence governments, encourage civil society, and shift the values of the financial sector to meet the needs of this growing number of people in the short and long term.

Our keynote speaker and distinguished panelists of world-leading experts will kick-off this session followed by a rich Design exChange Session where all participants will have an opportunity to use their design thinking and prototyping abilities to imagine and create new ways forward.

Keynote: Tima Kurdi, Co-Founder, Kurdi Foundation; Moderator: David Reiling, Chairman & CEO, Sunrise Banks; Panelists: Nathan Benson, Legal and Research Director, The Refugee Hub, University of Ottawa; Gillian Barth, President and CEO for CARE Canada; Linda Lopez, Chief, Office of Immigrant Affairs Office of the Mayor, Los Angeles