A new policy note examines the key elements, or foundational building blocks, that should be in place to reach the world’s remaining 1.5 billion unbanked. Titled, Foundational Building Blocks for Financial Inclusion: Insights and Call to Action to Reach the Last Mile, it focuses on those who have yet to benefit from important gains in financial inclusion, and shows how responsible digital technology is an important tool for delivering benefits to those who are excluded.
The report was launched by the Foundational Building Blocks Working Group (FBBWG), convened by H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA).
The policy note shares lessons on how to address the access barriers that last-mile groups continue to face, making financial inclusion more impactful on broader development outcomes, like women’s economic empowerment, poverty reduction, access to quality health care and education, and affordable and clean energy.
Policy and regulatory considerations for building inclusive digital financial systems are highlighted, backed by examples of best practices, from China to Senegal. There is special emphasis on prioritizing public policies and investments that accelerate financial inclusion in the last mile for women, migrants, and people living in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS).
The policy note concludes by calling for a global target to reduce the 1.5 billion people that are financially excluded by half by 2030 and by two-thirds by 2035. It also offers individual country targets to reach that threshold, including increasing to 100% the share of adults who have actively transacted by 2030, and increasing to 100% the share of adults who have made or received a digital payment in the past year by 2035.
“Achieving these targets,” the authors note, “will require unified and urgent action from the public and private sector alike, especially in countries that are in fragile and conflict-affected situations.”
ABOUT THE FOUNDATIONAL BUILDING BLOCKS WORKING GROUP (FBBWG)
The Foundational Building Blocks Working Group (FBBWG) was convened in March 2024 by H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA). Members of the Foundational Building Blocks Working Group (FBBWG) are financial inclusion experts from organizations that are part of the UNSGSA Reference Group, including the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), CGAP, the Office of the UNSGSA (O/UNSGSA), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and the World Bank Group (WBG).