What role can big data play in helping regulators, policymakers, financial service providers, and researchers to assess inclusion, market conduct and stability? This was the question Illana Melzer explored at the CGAP Leadership Series Workshop held on 25 – 26 May 2016 in Johannesburg.

Illana’s presentation explores in detail what existing data is available to help regulators monitor industry trends and identify potential red flags, as well as the limitations of this data. The main focus of the presentation, however, is on the alternative data sources available in the system that are not currently in the line of sight of regulators. Examples of these alternative data sources include credit bureau data, taxation data, deeds registry data, and social media data, to name just a few. These data sets contain useful information that, if made available, merged, and de-personalised, would offer regulators a much richer and fuller understanding of financial inclusion and the market conduct of the industry as a whole. But the key question is, can or will these alternative data sources ever be made openly and freely available? It might just be the time for an open data financial inclusion standard.

The full presentation is available to be viewed below.