BCI reaffirms its commitment to promoting the financial inclusion of women

BCI was present this Wednesday, April 22nd, in Maputo, at the Women in Finance Conference 2026, a benchmark event organized by FSD Mozambique, which brought together leaders and experts from the financial sector to discuss trends, promote inclusion, and strengthen the role of women in the financial industry.

Under the motto "Share data, achieve inclusion: Promoting women's financial inclusion through digital empowerment," the conference's central objective was to promote structural solutions for advancing women's financial inclusion in Mozambique, with a particular focus on innovation, digital financial systems, and the strategic use of data as catalysts for transformation.

The Chairman of the Executive Committee (PCE) of BCI, Francisco Costa, was part of the panel on the theme "Leadership and Governance in Financial Institutions: Systems for Digital Financial Inclusion", where he shared the Bank's vision on the importance of integrating women's financial inclusion as a structural dimension of institutions and not as an isolated initiative.

In his speech, Francisco Costa addressed the role of strategic leadership, governance models, and internal systems of financial institutions in promoting inclusive digital solutions, integrating data for more informed decision-making, and incorporating gender-sensitive approaches into institutional policies and practices.

For the CEO of BCI, promoting women's financial inclusion requires a collective and sustained effort. “It has to be a joint effort. This is everyone's job. All the institutions involved, those who have an impact on culture, on changing procedures, on changing people's behavior. We are all too few to achieve it. But we have already done a lot,” he stated.

On that occasion, Francisco Costa also highlighted the progress made in granting credit to women, emphasizing positive indicators in terms of parity. "I can say that I have a level of credit granted to women equal to or slightly higher than that of men," he said, pointing out, however, the challenges that still exist, namely the informality of women's work, which limits access to financing and makes this issue particularly critical.

By participating in this forum, BCI reaffirms its commitment to financial inclusion, women's empowerment, and the development of solutions that address the real needs of women, generating a positive impact on the economy and society.