普惠金融进行“10”
导语
2024年，中国普惠金融研究院（CAFI）迎来了她的十周岁生日。十年来，CAFI有幸见证了普惠金融高速发展的历史阶段，也积极投身推动行业进步事业中，秉持初心，坚持不懈。
与此同时，CAFI也得到了一路走来的众多同道伙伴的支持。这其中有来自政界和学界的专家，有行业代表，也有国内外的顶级学者。他们用各自的方式为普惠金融事业贡献力量，使得整个行业在这十年中取得了令人瞩目的成绩。
在中国普惠金融和CAFI共同庆祝这些成绩的时刻，关注普惠金融的朋友们纷纷写来寄语。致CAFI，致事业，致时光，致未来。
十年前，中国普惠金融研究院(CAFI)在成立之初，肩负的一个重要使命就是将过去三十年来全球范围内成功的、优秀的、帮助了许许多多中低收入人群的微型金融实践经验介绍到中国。
为此，CAFI深入研究了拉丁美洲和南亚各种具有代表性的模式。那些卓有成效的机构创造了令人瞩目的业绩，为数百万被传统金融体系所排斥的低收入家庭提供了金融服务，包括提供最基本的运营资本和储蓄等。那些机构因此创造了卓越的业绩纪录，使得它们自身实现了快速增长并在全球资本市场上占有一席之地。它们取代了费用更高的非正规金融市场，取得了巨大的社会影响力。然而，这种商业模式的特点是与客户高频次的线下沟通并因此产生高成本。在CAFI成立之时，已有迹象显示这种模式可能已接近其增长的顶峰。这就意味着尽管数以百万计的人已经获得了金融服务，但仍有更多人未能被覆盖。为了惠及这部分尚未被覆盖的人群，迫切需要一种新的模式。
数字时代的到来预示着普惠金融将迈入新的发展阶段。机器智能在处理和分析大量数据方面的能力不断提升，成本却在降低；数据的传输几乎零成本；智能手机的普及使实时下载和上传数据流成为可能。这些因素共同构成了颠覆传统金融服务传递方式的基础。新兴平台无需线下实体店面就能线上获客，及时做出信贷决策，并持续推出针对个人需求定制的新产品——所有这些都能以极低的边际成本实现，即使是几美元的交易也能盈利。凭借截然不同的经济模式，新兴金融科技模式有望最终触及数以千计未获得服务的人群。
然而，未来挑战依然严峻。与过去低资本、低门槛的模式相比，未来成功的金融科技模式无论是在初创还是早期阶段，都需要更多的资本投入。也恰好因为这些新的探索和模式与众不同，格外需要提升监管部门的智慧监管水平，既维护金融体系稳定又鼓励推动创新。
在未来的十年里，CAFI将继续引导我们探索这个充满活力、复杂且迅速演变的新领域。但这一次，CAFI将特别关注那些代表普惠金融前沿趋势、具有中国特色的模式，而不仅仅是全球模式。
英文原文
普惠金融进行“10”
Ten years ago, when the Chinese Academy of Financial Inclusion (CAFI) opened its doors, one of its major roles was to bring to China an understanding of the best microfinance practices around the world that, in the prior thirty years, made serving the financial needs of the majority of the people an integral part of national financial systems.
Accordingly, CAFI studied leading models from Latin America and South Asia. The most effective ones had an admirable track record, bringing first working capital and savings and then increasingly more sophisticated tools, to millions of low-income, under-served families in the world. They did so through strong commercial models, which in turn enabled massive growth and earned them a seat at the world's capital markets. But their models were high- touch and high-cost. The high social impact came in the replacement of an informal financial market that charged much higher prices. But already at CAFI's founding, there were signs that these incumbent models were reaching their high-water mark. Globally, millions had gained access to finance, but more millions remained unreached. To include them, a new model was needed.
The arrival of the digital age promises to bring about the next stage of financial inclusion. The ability of machine intelligence to process and interpret massive amounts of data, ever quicker and at lower costs; the existence of an internet that can move this data from one point to another virtually at no cost; and the increasingly universal access to a smart phone able to download and upload to that data stream in real time, have provided the elements capable of disrupting the way financial services are delivered. New platforms are emerging that acquire and service customers without brick and mortar, make credit decisions virtually instantaneously, continuously generate new offerings tailored to individual needs – and all at marginal costs so low that transactions of just a few dollars can be profitable. Powered by radically different economics, they have the potential to finally reach the millions that are still waiting.
Yet significant challenges lie ahead. Yesterday's incumbent models were born with relatively low capital and low barriers to entry. Tomorrow's successful fintech models require massive amounts of capital, at inception and through their early stages. Because they are so different, to thrive they will need financial regulators with the intellectual flexibility to safeguard the system while not discouraging innovation.
In the next ten years, CAFI will help us understand this exciting, complex and fast emerging world. But this time, in addition to global models, CAFI will be uniquely positioned to highlight the Chinese models that today represent the cutting edge of financial inclusion.
（作者系哈佛大学商学院教授，CAFI学术顾问）