This 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 in the “last mile”.
Titled, Foundational Building Blocks for Financial Inclusion: Insights and Call to Action to Reach the Last Mile, the policy note 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.
It shares lessons on how to address the access barriers that last-mile groups continue to face, offering policy and regulatory considerations and highlighting examples of best practices. 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 includes a global Call to Action 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.
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).