Business Description
What is Digital Financial Inclusion and Why Does it Matter?
Globally, financial sector policymakers recognize the “game-changing” potential of digital financial inclusion. At an October 2014 conference, Jamie Caruana, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, emphasized this point by noting that institutions including the G20 and global financial regulators ‘“have the opportunity - and indeed the responsibility - to prepare the standard-setting world for both the risks and the rewards of the digitization of financial services.”
What, exactly, did Mr. Caruana mean by “digital financial inclusion” and why does it matter, both to this audience of global policy leaders and to the estimated 2.5 billion mostly poor and low-income adults who today transact mostly or entirely in cash? To which risks and which rewards is he referring – and who stands to gain or lose? A new CGAP Brief distills answers to these and related questions.
Defining the key components of “digital financial inclusion”
“Digital financial inclusion” can be defined broadly as digital access to and use of formal financial services by excluded and underserved populations. Such services should be suited to customers’ needs, and delivered responsibly, at a cost both affordable to customers and sustainable for providers. There are three key components of any such digital financial services: a digital transactional platform, retail agents, and the use by customers and agents of a device – most commonly a mobile phone – to transact via the platform.
