Inclusive Financial Systems

Our goal
To expand access to digital financial services so people in the lowest-income communities around the globe can build security and prosperity for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Cell phones connect an increasing number of Kenyans with digitally-based financial tools and services.
In Kenya, an increasing number of low-income people access financial tools and services from their cell phones.

At a glance

  • Today, about three quarters of people worldwide have an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider. This is a 50 percent increase in the past ten years.1 This revolution in financial inclusion has the potential to offer a pathway out of poverty for hundreds of millions of people and to spur broad economic growth.
  • We work to expand the availability of affordable and reliable financial services that serve the needs of all, including the world's poorest people.
  • Digital technologies and changes in national policy are clearing away obstacles that once kept these services out of reach for many, but tough challenges remain.
  • We work with our partners to support public and private investment in digital payment infrastructure, new regulatory standards, and gender equality initiatives such as digitized government benefit payments, to ensure continued progress toward the promise of financial inclusion.

1 World Bank, “Global Findex 2021”

The latest updates on inclusive financial systems

Morzina Begum (40), a tailor, shows off an item of clothing she recently made. Morzina embodies financial empowerment by being part of the SATHI Network in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, on April 2, 2024.The SATHI Network is a dedicated women-led agent network spanning across the country, to ensure convenient access to financial services for marginalized women at the last mile. Women agents in rural areas foster a sense of trust and comfort among female customers, enabling them to engage more confidently in financial transactions. The gender-specific intervention promotes financial inclusion and empowering un/underbanked women in a safe and supportive environment.
Article

Unlocking women’s economic power through digital public infrastructure

In many regions, women experience many more barriers to accessing digital services digital public infrastructure than men. Yet, including women in digital systems could add US$4.9 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
Monique Nsanzabaganwa Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission
How a new anti-fraud software can help millions more people bank safely
Article

How a new fraud detection software can help millions more people bank safely

Learn how innovative anti-fraud software can increase financial inclusion for millions worldwide, providing access to formal financial products and services.
Konstantin Peric Deputy Director, Payment Systems, Gates Foundation
Poonam poses for a photograph with her India Post Payments Bank card that helps her access digital banking in Mumbai, India.
Article

Why digital public infrastructure matters

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is a powerful tool for reducing poverty. Our expert explains what it is and how it’s transforming economies worldwide.
Thao Hong Program Officer, Gates Foundation
Article

Digital IDs are an effective tool against poverty. A global solution is making them available to millions.

The team behind the open-source technology MOSIP are transforming lives through their inclusive approach.
Kanwaljit Singh, Ph.D. Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation

Building inclusive, resilient economies

“By connecting people and making it easier to move money and share information, DPI is in many ways the modern-day equivalent of the roads and bridges that helped reshape economies in the 19th century.”
Kanwaljit Singh, Ph.D.
Senior Program Officer
Gates Foundation
Our strategy

Our strategy

We work to broaden the reach of low-cost digital financial services for the poor by supporting what we and our partners believe are the most catalytic approaches to financial inclusion. These include promoting the development of digital payment systems that can help spread use of digital financial services quickly, advancing gender equality to ensure that women share in the benefits of financial inclusion, and supporting the development of national and regional strategies that accelerate progress for the poor and can serve as models.

To achieve these objectives, we work with partners around the world to align on common principles for digital financial inclusion and support policymakers as they work to develop policies and regulations that facilitate growth in digital financial services and provide oversight and accountability. We also invest in national financial inclusion initiatives, through which the largest number of people living in poverty stand to benefit, including in Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, and East Africa.

We focus not on establishing a particular product or distribution channel, but rather on finding innovative ways to expand access and encourage markets to determine which products and channels are most effective. We support approaches that can provide financial services to the broadest number of people, but we also recognize that countries are at different stages of developing inclusive digital financial systems and their approaches must reflect the distinct needs of their economies and citizens.

Areas of focus

Areas of focus

Digital technology and changes in national policy are clearing away obstacles that once kept digital financial services out of reach for many, but tough challenges remain. To help realize the full potential of digital financial services, policymakers and business leaders will need to invest in the right payment infrastructure, regulatory standards, and customer activation strategies to ensure continued progress toward the promise of financial inclusion.

One of our most important priorities is the development of digital payment systems that poor people and the businesses that serve them will actually use.

Our team is actively exploring ways to accelerate use of digital financial services.

Governments can accelerate financial inclusion by establishing regulatory frameworks, policies, and incentives to help a wider variety of digital financial service providers compete on a level playing field while protecting consumers and the financial system.

At the core of our foundation’s approach to digital financial inclusion are investments that put women front and center to ensure that more of them benefit from empowering financial tools and services—such as digital financial accounts, mobile money, and credit.

Why focus on inclusive financial systems?

Why focus on inclusive financial systems?

Every year, millions of people around the world transition out of poverty. Regional growth and economic opportunities like new jobs, technologies, and business opportunities help people build more stable economic lives. At the same time, millions of people remain trapped in a cycle of poverty that is difficult to escape. We believe that financial exclusion is a significant driver of this cycle.

About 1.4 billion people worldwide are excluded from formal financial services such as savings, payments, insurance, and credit. In developing economies, only 71 percent of adults have an account, and women—about 740 million of them—are disproportionately excluded from beneficial financial systems.

Most poor households still operate almost entirely through a cash economy. This means they have to save using physical assets, such as livestock or jewelry. Cash gets spent, animals die, and jewelry can be lost or stolen. What’s more, these forms of savings earn no interest and can actually lose value over time. To send money to family, those without a bank account have to rely on couriers or friends who carry cash by bus, which is expensive, insecure, and slow. To borrow money in an emergency, they must turn to moneylenders who charge notoriously high interest rates.

Without formal financial histories, people are also cut off from potentially stabilizing and uplifting opportunities like building credit or getting a loan to start a business. And it’s harder to weather common financial setbacks, such as serious illness, a poor harvest, or an economic downturn. All too often, financial exclusion makes the expenses of poverty difficult to overcome.

Strategy leadership

Strategy leadership

Michael Wiegand
Michael Wiegand
Director, Inclusive Financial Systems
Michael Wiegand leads the foundation’s effort to make high quality financial services widely accessible to poor people throughout the developing world.
Jason Lamb
Jason Lamb
Deputy Director, Focus Country Implementation
Jason Lamb manages IFS focus country implementation in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
Rebecca Mann
Rebecca Mann
Deputy Director, Strategy, Planning & Management
Rebecca Mann leads on strategy, financial planning, and operations.
Our partners

Our partners

We do our work in collaboration with grantees and other partners, who join with us in taking risks, pushing for new solutions, and harnessing the transformative power of science and technology
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL)
Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI)
Better Than Cash Alliance
Center for Global Development
Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA)
Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD)
Identification for Development (ID4D)
Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA)
Karandaaz Pakistan
MicroSave Consulting
United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA)
World Bank Financial Inclusion Practice
Program resources

Program resources