Advancing Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion

Digital financial services have expanded opportunities for millions of women across the globe. More than 240 million more women now have an account with a financial institution or mobile money service, compared to 2014. Through this increased engagement in the formal economy, women’s resilience to financial, economic and health shocks is improving. However, there remains much work to do to achieve gender equality in financial services. Approximately one billion women do not have formal financial services, due to persistent barriers in access to identification documents, mobile phones, digital skills, financial capability, as well as inappropriate products and more.

Endorsed by G20 finance ministers, the report outlines 10 policy options to enable G20 members and other governments to rapidly work towards digital financial inclusion of all women. These will not only drive women’s greater economic participation but will also speed up economic recovery.

This paper is an update from the one released in 2015.