Read the note here

There is currently great enthusiasm about the potential for “big data” and data-driven innovations to advance financial inclusion in developing countries and emerging markets. New data practices are allowing providers to extend services to previously excluded or under-served consumers and to tailor products to the actual needs of these consumers. At the same time, these practices create some significant risks, which may lead to loss or even financial exclusion for vulnerable financial services consumers.

In a recent article, we propose an alternative approach to financial consumer data protection, which takes account of the modern dynamics of digital data collection, use, sharing and storage, and the limitations of consumers individually negotiating acceptable levels of data protection.

This alternative approach is for regulators, industry and scholars to: recognise that the problem of consumer data protection is not solved by consumers supposedly providing consent to data practices; reframe the discourse to avoid euphemisms and assumptions which unjustifiably favor provider interests; recognise that data privacy and financial inclusion objectives may be advanced simultaneously; and more broadly, challenge the validity of the dominant “privacy self-management” paradigm in the context of developing countries.