PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman Remarks at UN General Assembly Event

I would like to ask Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, to come first. Thank you, Dan.

Your Majesty, other distinguished guests, thank you for all coming together. Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be a small part of this large and important initiative. I'd like to start on a personal note. Her Majesty has become a close friend over the past several years, and she cares deeply and passionately about a topic we've discussed so many times: not just financial inclusion but financial health. It's a difficult job. She has seen many victories along the way and many setbacks, professional and personal, and she tirelessly advocates and is passionate about this project. As much as I talk about it in all my speeches, she inspires me all the time. I'm honored and proud to have you as somebody who works side by side with all of us and is my friend. So thank you for that. I think we should all be rightfully proud of all the accomplishments that we've made in the last 10 years. You can look at almost any metric and it's improved dramatically. But I don't think we should underestimate how far we still have to go. Really, the work has just begun. There are 1.7 billion people still outside the bounds of the financial system, and my bet is you can double that number when you look at the underserved market as well. You are, by definition, financially included, but the reality is they're not well served by the financial system. Here in the U.S., there are 70 million adults that are underserved. Interestingly, in a country like the U.S., 70 million adults spent $140 billion last year on fees and very high interest rates just to do basic financial transactions that most of us would take for granted, like cashing a check or paying a bill. That's ridiculous given the technologies that we have right now. Imagine if we could save one third of that, and by the way, we should be aiming at saving half of that, maybe even more, with the digital technologies we have. Imagine we could save $40 billion from that $120 billion and return it to those who most need it and drive their financial health. Why is that possible? As I'm going to mention, you've got the mobile phone, and with the mobile phone right now, you have all the power of a bank branch in the palm of your hands. We should be able to conduct those basic financial transactions at a fraction of the cost of a traditional brick-and-mortar bank branch, a fraction of the cost, probably 80% less. Of course, this all needs to be done in a responsible manner. It has to be done in a way that respects the regulatory environment of countries around the world, that respects the privacy and data security of consumers and individuals around the world. I think it's essential, and Queen Máxima pushes this all the time. I completely agree with her that no one organization, no one company, no one NGO can do this alone. We have to have a public and private partnership along with NGOs to make this happen. That is very difficult to do, but we need to make it happen. I think what's both frustrating and inspirational at the same time is that this is a problem that can and should be solved. We have the power to go and do that, but it's going to be very difficult. But it's obviously within our reach to go do that. I know that's what drives Her Majesty year after year after year. It's what drives all of us. What I would like to end my remarks with, Your Majesty, is saying that I personally commit to you and to the mission that you're leading. I personally commit PayPal to that mission, because I don't think anything is more important than us being part of this community and doing all of our best to make a real difference in the lives of our fellow citizens that need it most. Thank you so much.