Reserve Bank of Fiji hosts WE Fi Code workshop and reiterates support for gender inclusive finance

The Reserve Bank of Fiji, with support from the Asian Development Bank and national partners, hosted a Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative Code workshop to mark International Women’s Day 2026. The event brought together WE-Fi Code signatories to review progress and reinforce support for a more gender-inclusive financial system, with a focus on increasing finance for women-led and women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises. In keynote remarks at the workshop, Governor Ariff Ali called on institutions to be gender-intentional in service delivery and said Fiji’s financial sector has a central role in expanding women’s access to and use of financial services. Supporting details highlighted at the workshop included the growth of Fiji’s WE-Fi community since March 2024 to include banks, government ministries, development institutions and private sector partners. The Asian Development Bank pointed to ongoing support measures, including a USD 4 million local currency loan and WE-Fi grant package to Merchant Finance in 2024, as well as technical assistance to improve sex-disaggregated data systems, the national ID system and the electronic know your customer program. The Reserve Bank of Fiji also cited an improvement in financial inclusion outcomes, with the gender gap in deposit account ownership narrowing from 13.6 percent in 2020 to 10.3 percent in 2024, while noting that further progress is still needed.