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”
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.”
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
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?
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.