Market Systems Approach in the Dominican Republic

Background

• In September 2023, Cerise+SPTF met with leaders in the Dominican Republic’s Superintendency of Banks (SBS), both the Department related to Consumer Protection and the Department of Innovation, which includes their work on Digital Financial Services (DFS) to propose a partnership.
• In 2024, Cerise+SPTF offered scholarships for two regulators from SBS to join its Regulator Roundtable in Manila, hosted prior to SPTF’s annual conference in June in the Philippines. Representatives from both the Consumer Protection and Innovation Departments of SBS joined the Regulator Roundtable and subsequent conference to learn more about the Universal Standards for SEPM and the work of regulators in other countries to align national regulation on financial services with the Universal Standards. (Note: The Regulator Dialogue on Strengthening Consumer Protection is available here.)
• In 2025, Cerise+SPTF launched a market systems approach project in the DR with funding from European Investment Bank (EIB). Cerise+SPTF signed MoUs with three national networks that represent financial institutions in the DR including cooperatives, microfinance institutions, and the smaller regulated banks

Current Partners

The Dominican Republic’s Superintendency of Banks (SBS) is working with the World Bank on the definition of public policy on consumer protection and has regulations already in place that match about 80% of the practices described in the Client Protection Standards. Therefore, SBS requested Cerise+SPTF’s assistance with training financial institutions across the country on strong client protection practices and to support them in the implementation of the practices that will allow these financial institutions to meet both national regulation and the Universal Standards.

Fundacion Reservas del Pais is a public/private entity sponsored by the Dominican government, which provides TA and investment for its investee institutions, many of which are small cooperatives serving rural areas with few or no other options for the residents there to access financial services. Cerise+SPTF’s RIFF-CAC project worked with FRP before the pandemic to help some of these cooperatives take the first steps in learning about the Universal Standards and evaluating their practices. Now, post-pandemic, FRP is again supporting its affiliates in their work to learn about and apply the Universal Standards. Cerise+SPTF is excited to work with Fundacion Reservas again, this time to advance its investees’ work on both Client Protection and Environmental Performance Management, a topic that is of critical importance for the Caribbean. In early May 2025, FRP hosted two one-day trainings, which were open to the management and board members of all their investee institutions. The first training provided an Introduction to Client Protection and the second supported the financial institutions in a one-day workshop on how to develop an environmental strategy based on an analysis of their specific environmental risks, both at the institutional and client levels. Cerise+SPTF and FRP look forward to an ongoing collaboration to help the cooperatives in the DR deliver last-mile financial services in a way that improves the efficiency and effectiveness with which they can put their missions into practice.

Abancord, the association of Bancos Multiples, hosted two half-day trainings for its members, which are small privately held banks subject to regulation by SBS. The first training was a half-day Introduction to Client Protection and the other was a half-day workshop on the new Management Standards for the Responsible Provision of Digital Financial Services (the “DFS Standards”), which describe the practices necessary for the responsible provision of digital financial services. Polling in this session revealed that 74% of banks present in the training are well advanced in their journey towards digitalization, while another 13% already have mature digital systems in place. The high degree of alignment between the national regulation on consumer protection (which these banks must comply with) and the Client Protection Standards defined by Cerise+SPTF, makes the Pathway to Better Practice an efficient system to help the banks achieve more client-centered and sustainable practices, while strengthening their compliance with national regulations. One of Abancord’s members, Confisa Bank, has committed to implementing the whole Pathway to Better Practice and has already trained all its staff and board members, designed its first environmental strategy, and is carrying out an SPI assessment. These demonstration projects among leading financial institutions within their sector will hopefully inspire their peers to greater levels of implementation as well.

REDOMIF, the national network for microfinance institutions, also hosted a day of training for its members, where management from its member institutions learned about the new standards in version 3.0 of the Universal Standards, focusing on the new DFS Standards and the new Client Protection Standard of Governance. REDOMIF and many of its members have been engaged with Cerise+SPTF’s work on SPM for many years through initiatives hosted by REDCAMIF and RIFF-CAC projects that supported these institutions as they walk the Pathway to Better Practice. Several of REDOMIF’s members have made significant strides lately in their work on SEPM including Banco Ademi, which achieved a Gold Certification in Client Protection and FDD, which is implementing an ambitious action plan with the goal of implementing every one of the indicators in the SPI5 Full.

Conclusion and Next Steps

The hope for the market systems approach in the DR is to align all the different actors in the sector around shared values and common standards that provide a framework for how to put clients at the center of all their operational and strategic decisions.

In May 2025, two of Cerise+SPTF’s SEPM Professionals trained 165 employees from financial institutions across the DR to help make that vision a reality. We feel privileged to be able to provide comments to the Superintendency of Banks during their public comment period on the proposed updates to the Consumer Protection Regulation, to help bring it even more into alignment with the Universal Standards.

We look forward to collaborating with these stakeholders from all levels of the inclusive finance sector to strength responsible practices for years to come.