The FinTechStage Inclusion Forum in Jakarta, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Omidyar Network, aims to accelerate international collaboration to eradicate financial exclusion.

However, the innovation needed to make this happen often clashes with regulatory frameworks. Therefore, regulators and innovators must come together to find a solution.

Kosta Peric, Deputy Director, Financial Services for the Poor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, explains its fringe event, Level One Project Boot Camp, which hopes to tackle the regulation issue in countries which suffer from financial exclusion.

“It’s a good opportunity for not only taking stock of what has happened, but getting involved in workshopping and brainstorming about the key next steps. There is a huge potential for regtech to support financial inclusion. An economy that includes everyone, benefits everyone and could lead to a high percentage of GDP increase – 6% by 2025. It would be like adding another Germany to the world’s economy.”

Yet, there are positive results in Indonesia – a recent survey by the Financial Services Authority in Jakarta (OJK) shows that last year the financial inclusion index rose to 67.8 percent from 59.7 percent.

Whilst this is a positive shift, there is still some way to go, with the government aiming to have a 75 percent financial inclusion rate by 2019.

Peric explains why Indonesia is an interesting country to help: “Facebook users in the country have the highest mobile usage rate worldwide, so clearly there is an opportunity to use their mobile phones for financial inclusion. Our objective is to bring together payments technology and mobiles into an internet of payments.”

See the agenda here.