On April 17, the World Bank and a coalition of partners, including multilateral agencies, banks, credit unions, card networks, microfinance institutions and telecommunications companies, united under one goal: universal financial inclusion by the year 2020. Financial inclusion includes being able to access to formal financial institutions thus giving customers the ability to open transaction accounts and safely send and receive payments. Financial inclusion serves as a bridge to improve financial stability, increase financial options and empower impoverished individuals. FINCA recognizes that financial access is integral to raising one’s standard of living.
Reaching the remaining two billion unbanked people by 2020 is a priority for FINCA and its peer organizations. In the past three years over 700 million people worldwide have gained access to formal financial services and products, but that only constitutes 20% of the world’s financially excluded. To keep this momentum going, the World Bank and its partners, including the Microfinance CEO Working Group (MCWG) pledged to reach the two billion remaining unbanked people by 2020. The MCWG, of which FINCA is a part, has pledged to open 70 million new accounts worldwide.
In order to achieve our goal, FINCA is innovating through client-centric product development, increased use of alternative delivery channels to reach more and more remote clients and other means that simplify our processes, reduce time and cost for our clients and increase flexibility. We have made incredible leaps, but we have much to do.