Singapore Fintech Festival: Tilman Ehrbeck and Queen Máxima Talk Financial Health
At the 2024 Singapore FinTech Festival last week, Flourish Managing Partner Tilman Ehrbeck led a fireside chat with The Netherlands Queen Máxima, who is the United Nations Secretary General's Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for Financial Health. Their discussion, "From Financial Inclusion to Financial Health,” reflects the success of global efforts over the past decade to further financial inclusion -- the idea that everyone, regardless of income or background, should have access to affordable financial products and services.
Born in Argentina, and an economist and banker by training, Queen Máxima has been a leading voice for the cause over the last 15 years. In the SFF fireside chat, she shared financial health as the next logical step beyond inclusion to help ensure that the lives of families and small businesses as a result of deepened financial systems actually improve. She defined the four pillars of financial health as the ability to:
- Better manage day-to-day finances and make ends meet,
- Achieve long-term goals, such as home ownership or building a cushion for financial security in old age,
- Improve resilience to financial shocks, such as a medical event or cash crisis,
- Increase the confidence in the ability to manage one's finances.
To make global efforts to improve financial health successful, Queen Máxima says that efforts to help shape government policy and relationships must continue. In addition, the private sector must be engaged because of its ability to drive product innovation and accelerate digital financial service offerings for customers.
Watch the 24-minute interview on YouTube.