Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure

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Financial inclusion, which advances universal access to appropriate and affordable financial services, is crucial to inclusive growth. Financial infrastructure underpins financial inclusion, lowering the risks and costs of providing financial services to low income individuals and micro and small enterprises. Payments systems facilitate business transactions, government payments, remittances, and innovative retail (including mobile) payments, and bring safety and efficiency to a financial system.

More than half of the world's poor are unbanked and have limited or no access to financial services such as savings, loans, credit, insurance, or payments. This constrains their ability to cope with unexpected expenditures, take advantage of economic and educational opportunities, participate in business transactions, and send and receive remittances. Poor households and women are especially disadvantaged. No citizen should be excluded from economic opportunity, and financial inclusion is an effective instrument to bridge this gap.

The World Bank Group takes a comprehensive approach to achieving financial inclusion, working with government and regulator partners to increase access to a range of financial services and institutions through low-cost delivery mechanisms. The World Bank has an active lending portfolio for access to finance of over US$ 3.5 billion, and inclusive finance and financial infrastructure projects in more than 60 countries. Bank specialists are engaged in:

Working with governments and regulators to design and implement financial inclusion strategies that increase access to financial services for households and enterprises
Helping countries develop secure and efficient payment, remittance, securities settlement and credit reporting systems
Supporting responsible financial inclusion by promoting financial capability and strengthening financial consumer protection frameworks
Providing expert technical support and financing for policy initiatives, legal reforms and programs that support: micro and SME finance, trade finance, agricultural finance, innovative delivery mechanisms, alternative financial products and state and member-based financial institutions
Producing knowledge and diagnostic tools that build capacity and global expertise in support of country-led financial inclusion actions and the G20 financial inclusion agenda

This website provides an overview of the World Bank's role as a leading development partner to low and middle income countries, in supporting their targets and actions in financial inclusion, financial infrastructure, consumer protection, financial capability, and micro and SME finance. It features the latest knowledge and data sources and articulates components, strategies, and partnership models to achieve successful FI development at the national level.

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