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White House expresses interest in fintech in stakeholder meeting
Posted On 14 Jun 2016
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Adrienne Harris, Special Assistant to the President of United States for Economic Policy, announced in a blog post that the White House is interested in fintech, NEWSBTC reports.
The blog post came after a day in which the White House brought together stakeholders from across fintech with the goal to identify how the industry can help “advance our financial well-being and economic prosperity,” covering topics from small business to civil rights.
Harris highlighted several points from the day’s discussion, several of which demonstrated the White House’s interest in pushing forward innovations within fintech. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, for example, moderated a panel that discussed how the government can help ensure innovators within the space have the resources necessary to create products and services that help grow the United States’ economic competitiveness.
On a smaller level, panels included a topic on how fintech can be leveraged to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with payment processing, fraud protection and cybersecurity. Another panel also discussed how new financial tools can help individuals better understand their finances and improve pathways toward important goals, such as lowering student debt or saving for retirement.
Fintech wasn’t only discussed in terms of economic prosperity and financial security. Roy Austin, Deputy Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs, Justice, and Opportunity, discussed on how fintech can leverage big data to help with civil rights and opportunity for underserved populations. The day’s last panel, led by US Agency for International Development Administrator Gayle Smith, covered how financial innovations, including mobile phone-based payment systems, have enabled developing nations grow stronger, more transparent economies. The panel identified the need for the public and private sector to work together to lay a foundation for the inclusion of these economies.
Image credit – Ingfbruno (CC BY-SA 3.0)
