John Owens is a senior executive, attorney, consultant, board member, and senior advisor with more than 30 years of experience in inclusive financial services with a focus on digital financial services and payments. He is also a highly respected financial services influencer, listed in the Top 108 Financial Services Influencers to Follow by The Financial Brand, among the top 100 Fintech and Payment Influencers by the Jay Palter Social Advisory site, and among the top 10 Twitter accounts to follow by the Guardian in the area of e-money and financial inclusion.

John has worked and lectured in all emerging market regions of the world. His areas of expertise include a deep understanding of the role of regulation and policies to support digital financial services, payments, open finance, and financial inclusion. He also has extensive international project management experience planning, designing, and implementing inclusive financial services (credit, savings, insurance, remittances, and payment products) both on the policy/regulatory side as well as directly with banks and non-bank financial institutions. He has managed several international projects and has written and lectured on various aspects of digital financial services, payments, and financial inclusion.

John is currently an advisor and consultant to the Asian Development Bank and a former Senior Financial Inclusion Policy Advisor to the Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority and the Indonesian Ministry of Finance for the G20 GPFI in 2020 and 2022. He is also a former senior policy advisor to PwC Singapore, the World Bank/IFC Group, a Fellow with ACCION International, and was the Senior Advisor on Digital Financial Services & Other Financial Inclusion Policies for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). Under AFI, he provided direct support to regulators and policymakers among the 95 member countries as well as the Digital Financial Services Working Group, the African Mobile Phone Financial Services Policy Initiative, and represented AFI on the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) subgroup on Markets and Payments Systems.

John is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion and believes that digital financial services can play a transformative role in improving the lives of people in developing countries. He is a highly sought-after speaker and consultant and his work has been featured in leading publications such as The Financial Times, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal.