Netherlands' Queen Maxima visits communities in the Philippines

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA),is visiting communities in the Philippines and she will stay from 21st to 23rd May.

The visit focuses on advancing key foundational building blocks for financial inclusion including connectivity, digital identification, and digital payments as well as enhancing financial health and resilience against economic and climate-related challenges for Filipinos.

Queen Maxima, Queen of the Netherlands said “ They were telling me of course what a big difference that if you live in an island, that you can do this from your phone. Otherwise, you have to pay three dollars to go back and forth on the boat. Then you know, the three hours that took you to actually take the cash out when you go to payment or when you're going to make a payment. And now you can do it from your home. So it was very nice to actually hear from all of them how this has actually changed their lives." Philippines remains among the world's top 10 countries with the highest number of unbanked adults at approximately 37.6 million.