<p>We work to advance inclusive financial services for the billions of people who currently lack the financial tools needed to improve their lives and prosper. We leverage partnerships to conduct rigorous research and test promising solutions, and then advocate for evidence-based change. CFI was founded by Accion in 2008 as an independent think tank on inclusive finance.</p>


Our Focus Areas

<p>We focus on inclusive finance needs that are directly related to improving outcomes for low-income consumers. While we will continue our work on improving consumer protection and empowerment and on important market infrastructure issues, we are also elevating work in three key areas of focus: climate change, gender inequality and data opportunities and risks. Our vision requires doing additional research on how financial services can both reduce risks and help customers adapt to the reality of climate change. It also involves conducting additional research and experimentation on how to address the remaining policy and norms barriers that impede progress on women’s participation in the formal financial system. We also seek to better understand the risks and opportunities that the new digital economy and the use of data pose for customers so that we can identify innovative solutions for managing those risks through regulation, data practices by providers, and industry-wide solutions.</p>


Watch Our Strategy Video 

This strategy will guide CFI’s work through 2024 and focuses on four thematic areas. All of them, to significant degrees, have either been exacerbated by the pandemic or have been revealed by the crisis as urgent and under-attended priorities.

Report

<h2>Executive Summary</h2>
Since its founding in 2008, the Center for Financial Inclusion, or CFI, has worked to ensure that efforts to expand inclusive finance for low-income and other vulnerable people remain focused on people. That proposition might seem in theory to be self-evident; in practice, however, efforts often fall victim to focusing on the means and lose sight of the ends. CFI was created to help keep that from happening. We were founded at a particular moment when it was becoming more apparent that market forces alone would not ensure positive outcomes for low-income people, and that sustained intentionality would be necessary. CFI works to ensure that we never lose sight of our <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/mission/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vision</a> — a world in which all people are able to use financial services and participate in the economy to improve their lives and prosper — and that low-income people and their needs are consistently and deliberately kept at the center of all that we do.

Twelve years later, CFI — and the whole world — faces a radically different historic moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">infected over 88 million people and killed over 1.9 million</a> between the time it was first reported in December 2019 and at the time of this writing in January 2021. Beyond the rapid and catastrophic spread of illness and deaths, the pandemic has devastated global economies. Millions of micro, small, and medium enterprises around the world have seen revenues plummet and have suspended operations or gone out of business altogether. Hundreds of millions of families have lost jobs and incomes, and many of them live in countries where social safety net protections are patchy at best. The pandemic also reversed, seemingly overnight, social and economic development gains that had taken decades to achieve: The World Bank estimates that between <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/10/07/covid-19-to-add-as-many-as-150-million-extreme-poor-by-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">88 million and 115 million people are at risk of falling into poverty</a>. Women and children have been among those most affected; children because schools around the world have been shuttered, and women because they are more likely than men to lose their jobs and to shoulder the responsibility of supervising and homeschooling children.

This global crisis has no precedent in modern times. And yet, like all crises, the COVID-19 pandemic also presents an opportunity: to “build back better,” as the saying goes, to ensure that similar crises are averted and that we are much better prepared to respond effectively when they hit. For CFI, that means developing a deep understanding of how financial services reduce vulnerability for low-income populations and how to overcome the obstacles preventing so many from participating in the financial sector, and then working with key stakeholders and advocating for evidence-based change to ensure that such services fulfill their intended purpose. As tragic as the pandemic’s consequences have been and continue to be, it has laid undeniably bare the failures of the status quo and has created a heightened sense of urgency for financial services, no less than for health care, emergency relief, and other sectors, to build back better.
<blockquote class="pullquote--right">The pandemic’s consequences have laid bare the failures of the status quo created a heightened sense of urgency for financial services.</blockquote>
CFI brings more than a decade of experience to this intensified global effort, with expertise in understanding the financial needs and behaviors of low-income vulnerable populations. Complementing CFI’s strengths in demand-side research, our recent <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/mix-and-cfi-announce-strategic-integration-to-drive-industry-knowledge-for-inclusive-finance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">integration with MIX</a> brings supply-side expertise to the table, as the MIX had been studying and reporting about financial service providers for the past 20 years. These complementary strengths, combined with our history of thought leadership and our role as conveners, position CFI to pursue an ambitious strategy made all the more urgent in the context of the pandemic.

Crisis and Opportunity: Reimagining Inclusive Finance After the Pandemic

Learn More

Case Study

<h1>Challenge</h1>
Financial inclusion means different things to different people. Today’s marketplace represents a wide array of providers with varying interests. Some focus on access to bank accounts, while others build electronic payments infrastructure, and still others develop credit services or insurance. With significant resources invested to expand financial services to low-income, first-time and underserved consumers, the importance of ensuring that newly included people actually benefit from the services cannot be underestimated. To be effective, the financial inclusion community needs alignment and direction about how to tackle a big challenge—too big for any one entity to solve.
<h1>Approach</h1>
CFI approached this challenge by building communities of support and action around a progressive agenda for global financial inclusion:
<h3>Agenda Setting</h3>
We articulated a vision for financial inclusion that includes service range, quality, affordability, convenience, consumer protection and empowerment. We understand what meaningful financial inclusion looks like, and our agenda reflects that.
<h3>Community Building</h3>
We know that constructing a financial inclusion community that serves, protects and empowers customers requires the combined efforts of many actors. We add value to the sector by bringing people together, building consensus and enhancing the industry’s collective knowledge and skills.
<h3>Delivering Insights</h3>
We investigate big, unanswered questions that can catalyze the industry to meet the financial needs of underserved people around the world.
<h1>Results</h1>

Setting an Agenda for Global Financial Inclusion

<h1>Why Benchmarking Matters</h1>
<h5>HOW DO WE KNOW WE'RE BEING EFFECTIVE?</h5>
Achieving financial inclusion requires continuously evaluating how well the industry is progressing and how far we still have to go. Benchmarking activities help us measure progress and identify priorities for research and action. To reach 3 billion people who are left out of or poorly served by the financial sector, a full understanding of progress and setbacks is essential.

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<h1>Approach</h1>
<h5>INDEPENDENT AND CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE</h5>
We are committed to keeping the industry focused on financial inclusion that benefits consumers. CFI assesses public industry data, like the <a href="https://globalfindex.worldbank.org/">Global Findex</a> and the <a href="https://news.gallup.com/reports/233399/gallup-global-financial-health-study-2018.aspx">Gallup Global Financial Health Study</a> with an independent and critical eye, shining a spotlight on where action is most needed. We also participate in joint benchmarking exercises with partners to examine specific aspects of the sector, like the regulatory environment or risk perceptions. In all our benchmarking and research endeavors, we are keen to reality test prevailing narratives, ask tough questions and shine a light on overlooked trends.

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<h1>Results</h1>
<h5>WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED?</h5>
<h2>Benchmarking the Enabling Environment</h2>
Together with partners, CFI sponsors and contributes to the Global Microscope—a project led by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Intended to benchmark the enabling environment for promoting financial inclusion, the Microscope assesses the institutional and regulatory ecosystem based on selected indicators across over 50 developing economies. We have helped the Microscope evolve from a study of microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean into a global study of the broader financial inclusion ecosystem. Additionally, we also look at new indicators on the enabling environment for digital financial services.

With 2018 marking its eleventh edition, the Microscope is one of the few benchmarking tools in the financial inclusion sector that spans a decade or more. Regulators across the world use its scoring and rankings as yardsticks for their own performance. Investors also consult the study when considering investment strategies. Many countries are cognizant of where they stand in the global rankings and are motivated to improve.


Benchmarking Financial Inclusion Progress

<h1>Why Financial Health Matters</h1>
Everyone strives to be financially healthy: to manage day-to-day finances, to weather financial shocks and to pursue longer term goals. Arguably, the core purpose of financial inclusion is to help people achieve financial health.

If the financial inclusion sector begins to measure the financial health of customers and considers ways to support financial health in their products and policies, it will have made a significant shift toward addressing what matters most – customer benefit.

From Idea Into Action on Global Financial Health

<h1>Challenge</h1>
In emerging markets across Africa, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other financial service providers (FSPs) play a critical role providing financial services to people who are unable to obtain traditional finance. Despite its important role, this sector in Africa faces enormous challenges. In 2013, our <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/microfinance-banana-skins-2014-the-csfi-survey-of-microfinance-risk/">survey of African FSPs</a> revealed governance and risk management as the primary vulnerabilities in the sector. Weak governance and risky behavior also <a href="http://www.cgap.org/publications/growth-and-vulnerabilities-microfinance">played a role in microfinance crises</a> in Nicaragua, Morocco, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Pakistan. CFI decided to commit to helping African FSPs focus on governance and risk—and not just individually, but at a sectoral level—to avoid this fate.
<h1>Navigating Obstacles</h1>
We quickly realized we would be starting nearly from scratch. The handful of existing governance resources on the market at the time comprised generic, one-off trainings or were geared to corporate participants. We knew that this kind of classroom-based, lecture-heavy, training was not an effective strategy for senior board members, whose time was valuable and who were often in positions of authority in other walks of life.

We wanted to create something meaningful and effective, tailor-made for FSPs, and delivered in a manner that would stick with participants so that they could lead their organizations and their industry to grow and prosper.

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Governance Peer Learning and Exchange Program Strengthens Financial Institutions in Africa

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COVID-19 and MSMEs: Data and Analysis to Understand Impact

Women's Financial Inclusion

Consumer Protection

Financial Inclusion Week

Financial Inclusion Equity Council

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Board Leadership for Impact Program

HBS-Accion Program on Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance

What We Do

Our Mission & Vision

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Our vision is a world where all people are able to use financial services and participate in the economy to improve their lives and prosper.

<p>On the heels of the global financial crisis in 2008, we engaged the global financial inclusion community to internalize and implement consumer protection. Working collaboratively with many stakeholders, we developed the first industry standards for consumer protection in financial inclusion via <a href="/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign/">The Smart Campaign</a>. By May 2018, over 100 financial institutions, collectively serving more than 42 million people, have been certified for adhering to these industry-accepted standards. Our Model Legal Framework for Consumer Protection provides the regulatory foundation for treating consumers fairly in the financial services marketplace. This policy guidance has been adopted in several countries, including Myanmar.</p>
<p>In 2012, we <a href="/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-2020/">spearheaded a movement</a> that mobilized a broad set of stakeholders around the globe to embark on a shared roadmap for action. We recognized that it was possible to bring access to financial services to everyone in the world in just a few years, and put out a call for financial inclusion by 2020. This effort received an enormous boost when, just one year later in 2013, the World Bank announced its Universal Financial Access program, adopting 2020 as its target date.</p>
<p>With dedicated convenings of the <a href="/about/what-we-do/fiec/">Financial Inclusion Equity Council</a> (FIEC), we have helped equity investors candidly and collaboratively examine the most difficult, most sensitive challenges in impact investing in financial inclusion—such as valuation, governance and responsible exits. FIEC serves as a trusted, valuable forum for our community to collectively address responsible investing and sustainable inclusion.</p>


<p>With research and insights, we are making important contributions in the frontier issues in financial inclusion, as well as keeping the community focused on the client. We have commissioned experts to challenge prevailing narratives and perceived silver bullets for financial inclusion. For instance, <a href="/about/what-we-do/research-fellows-program/">CFI Research Fellows</a> have shattered the notion that <a href="/government-to-person-transfers">government-to-person payment schemes</a> and <a href="/technology-inequality-opportunities-and-challenges-for-mobile-financial-services">smartphones</a> are automatic onramps for inclusion. They have also revealed the important ways in which human interaction should offset digital interaction as providers scale their efforts on mobile and online.</p>
<p>Another way we focus on the client is through the <a href="/blog">CFI Blog</a>. Our ongoing coverage of <a href="/topics/refugees-and-migrants">refugees</a>, client voice, the financial diaries and <a href="/series/keeping-clients-first/">Keeping Clients First</a> are just some examples of the client focus we’ve built into our digital sharing, learning and debate platform.</p>


CFI is charting a course for global financial inclusion and bringing the industry together around a customer-centered vision.

The Global Microscope

<h2>Challenging the Global Narrative</h2>
<p>The Global Findex is a survey of the financial habits of adults in 144 countries with data collected in 2011, 2014 and 2017. Our industry relies on the Findex to understand how people are using (or not using) financial services. It is the best available demand-side data for measuring global progress toward financial inclusion, and the World Bank generously makes the data publicly accessible.</p>
<p>With each new release, CFI conducts its own critical review of the Findex data. In our 2015 analysis, we analyzed which countries were on track to achieve universal financial access by 2020 and projected where the gaps would be. We also <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/by-the-numbers-benchmarking-progress-toward-financial-inclusion/">highlighted the gap between access to and usage of financial accounts</a>, emphasizing that account ownership is only valuable if accounts are actively used. This message only intensified when we analyzed the 2017 data, and we honed in on three new messages: the absence of discernible progress in savings, credit or resilience. Given the global effort to promote savings and extend access to credit, the flat or negative growth in these core financial services was indeed disappointing. And resilience – the ability to recover from a financial shock – is an essential component of financial health. The lack of growth in resilience, savings and credit suggests a need to reflect, re-calibrate and re-engage as we continue to pursue our common goals.</p>
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Shedding Light on the Global Findex

<h2>Calling Attention to Major Trends and Markets</h2>
<p>We believe it’s important to focus attention on under-appreciated trends and market segments. In our <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/mapping-the-invisible-market/">Mapping the Invisible Market project</a> (2013-2015), we examined the likely impact of global demographic and economic trends on financial inclusion. On the economic side, we noted that an enormous segment of people is moving from abject poverty to the $4-$10 dollar a day range, which gives them a small amount of disposable income and potentially increases their demand for financial services. On the demographic side, we highlighted a nearly unremarked demographic shift: older people are the fastest growing population segment in regions including East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. We followed up by examining the financial services needs of older people and the inadequacy of pension services for the vast majority of people in our target market.</p>
<p>We also focused on <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-for-persons-with-disabilities/">people with disabilities</a> – another severely excluded group. Through partnerships with microfinance institutions in Paraguay and India, we developed and promoted a roadmap for disability inclusion that remains one of the only such guides available. And our partner institutions continue to reach out and serve thousands of people with disabilities who were previously excluded.</p>
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By studying where we’re making progress and where we aren’t, CFI is a critical and credible advocate for financial inclusion.

<p>While financial health resonates universally with consumers, providers and policymakers, the concept had not been adapted to or tested in a global context. In 2015, the <a href="https://cfsinnovation.org/">Center for Financial Services Innovation</a> (CFSI, now the Financial Health Network) established a financial health framework for the United States, but without adaptation, this framework could not be applied around the globe, where financial lives are lived very differently. To validate the concept of financial health, we set out to examine how people in lower income countries think about and experience financial health.</p>


Financial Health Reports

<p>We are committed to moving financial health from theory to practice. Here’s what we’ve done so far:</p>
<ul>
<li>In partnership with CFSI and <a href="http://www.dalbergdesign.com/">Dalberg Design</a>, and with support from the <a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a>, we created a global framework for assessing financial health. Our research in India and Kenya helped us determine the universal and contextual factors that define financial health, even for lower income people in developing countries. In these countries, we observed that people have a harder time realizing financial health because their incomes are not only lower, but also irregular and unpredictable. People who use a variety of formal and informal financial tools have greater financial health.</li>
<li>In partnership with the Microfinance Centre in Warsaw, Poland, and with support from MetLife Foundation, we are building a financial health tool for Eastern European microfinance institutions and their customers to help gauge and improve customer financial health.</li>
<li>We tested the financial health with Accion’s own employees as a way to understand how financial institutions and other employers can support the financial health of their staff. This energized our whole team to improve our own financial health and to promote the concept in the workplace.</li>
<li>We are building a network of people and organizations that are working to make financial health a north star for financial inclusion.</li>
</ul>


<ul>
<li>We laid a foundation for global financial health that is informing additional research, product and policy design, and models for serving customers.</li>
<li>We are launching a financial health assessment as a consumer-facing tool in Eastern Europe. We realized that a simple quiz has the power to motivate consumers to improve their financial health, and we are developing an app that takes this discovery to the next level.</li>
<li>We learned how financial health may be a relevant concept for employers. By turning our research on ourselves here at Accion, we identified the financial health issues of Accion staff, and motivated our internal stakeholders to tackle the issues we found. This experience convinced us that employers can benefit from measuring and supporting the financial health of workers.</li>
<li>We have raised awareness and created a global conversation on financial health that includes policy makers, banking associations, researchers and others. Interest is growing. Our growing community includes more than 200 practitioners and researchers around the world.</li>
</ul>


CFI is moving financial health from a U.S.-oriented concept to a usable global framework and practical toolset.

<p>In partnership with Mastercard Foundation and FMO Entrepreneurial Development Bank in 2015, CFI launched a unique governance and risk management executive education opportunity for African FSP leaders in the form of the Africa Board Fellowship Program.</p>
<p>The Africa Board Fellowship is an unmatched peer exchange program specifically for CEOs and board members of African FSPs focused on a variety of topics in governance and risk. The six-month program offers in-person, peer-led seminars featuring real life case studies, role plays, interactive animation and networking, together with a virtual platform for structured learning, dialogue and collaboration. During the program, fellows establish individual and institutional goals and work with an advisor on achieving those goals. Fellows continue to have access to a virtual community forum even as alumni. In this way, our program is creating a network of leaders across the continent who can connect with each other about the similar challenges they face.</p>


<p>The Africa Board Fellowship is not only changing the way board members and CEOs lead their institutions, but also fortifying African financial services for underserved communities at an industry level. ABF Fellows are more effectively implementing good governance strategies, managing risks, and becoming more client-centric as a result of their experience in the ABF program.</p>
<h2>Doubling Down on Good Governance</h2>
<p>ABF Fellows are becoming more effective supervisors of their institutions, as evidenced by implementing a robust system of checks, balances and internal controls. These are especially crucial in competitive markets where pressure to grow can lead to relaxed business practices. As Vincent Kaheeru, ECLOF Board Chairman and ABF Fellow explains, “We’ve put a strong emphasis on the quality of lending and invested in training our frontline people in credit appraisal and administration, and in the importance of following policies to the letter.”</p>
<h2>Mitigating and Anticipating Risks</h2>
<p>ABF Fellows have used the program to hone their ability to manage risk. For example, following a period of political instability in 2016, the board and CEO of Microcred, based in Ivory Coast, took steps to manage and anticipate risks as a result of ABF. To reduce concentration risk, the board embarked on an expansion plan, successfully opening new branches and diversifying its client base. The Board also directed staff to pair experienced branch managers with newer ones to more effectively cope with the strain of higher portfolio at risk. Microcred also established a board-level committee that meets monthly to review and evaluate all areas where the FSP might be at risk.</p>
<h2>Embracing Client Centricity</h2>
<p>Because boards and management are often far removed from clients, the ABF Program emphasizes client centricity. During the program, ABF fellows conduct client visits to appreciate the triumphs and hardships of entrepreneurship as well as what it’s like to be an FSP client. Client visits make a big difference. We see ABF Fellows not only taking the practice back to their FSPs, but also modifying their products and practices to better serve clients.</p>


ABF At-A-Glance (2015-2018)

CFI addresses gap in the market to help financial service providers thrive, survive and serve underserved clients.

<h3>As people limit their movement to prevent the spread of COVID-19, businesses across the globe are suffering. What is the scale of that impact and how are MSMEs coping? CFI’s data dashboards provide insights from four countries.</h3>
<p>In June 2020, CFI <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/understanding-covid19s-impact-on-financial-health-of-msmes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">began a longitudinal survey</a> examining how COVID-19 is impacting MSMEs in four countries: Colombia, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria. Users of this interactive data dashboard can explore how MSME owners are responding to the crisis, and they can dive deeper to view results of the survey based on different market segments – including men and women, firms of different size, and different types of businesses.</p>
<p>Currently, the dashboard features data from randomly drawn samples of MSMEs in Lagos, Nigeria and Indonesia. The dashboards will be updated regularly as each survey wave in each country is completed and as CFI completes additional visualizations. CFI’s analysis of the data will be made available in blogs, briefs, and reports.</p>


Latest Insights

Wave 1 Data Analysis and Insights, All Countries

Single-Country Analysis

This research is part of our partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

Partner

<p>Women make up a little over half the world’s population, but their contribution to measured economic activity, growth, and well-being is far below its potential, which results in significant macroeconomic consequences. Globally, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less than half of women participate in the labor force</a>, compared to three-quarters of men. In developing regions, <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/women-in-informal-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">up to 95 percent of women’s employment is informal,</a> in jobs that are unprotected by labor laws or do not benefit from social protection. The consequence of this lack of equality is missed opportunities for individuals, households, and economies. Financial services are a core enabler for self-employment, enterprise growth, and asset or wealth creation for households. Lack of access to financial services contributes to women’s marginalization to the informal sector and reduces their ability to fully engage in measurable and productive economic activities. Despite decades of focus on women as an important client group, there has been limited progress in reducing the gap in women’s access to finance.</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote--right"><p>We are focusing on scaling up successful norms-transformative initiatives and improving the digital and financial capability of subsegments of women customers.</p></blockquote>
<p>At CFI, we believe women’s financial inclusion is powerfully shaped by broader societal norms, the unspoken assumptions and values governing the role of women in society. Efforts to improve women’s financial inclusion must also seek to transform, rather than merely acknowledge, these underlying norms. Our work in this area includes an intensive focus on research into successful norms-transformative initiatives, and how those might be scaled up. We are also working to improve the digital and financial capability of subsegments of women customers to help enable access to the range of &#8212; and to influence the policy environment for &#8212; women’s financial inclusion.</p>


Women's Financial Capability 

By the Numbers

Women and Crisis

Gender and Fintech

Blog Posts on Women's Financial Inclusion 

Building evidence for best practices, products, and strategies that bring better, more appropriate financial services to low-income women globally. 

<p>Consumer protection is integral to building customer trust and is increasingly acknowledged as a cornerstone of a stable financial system. CFI works to ensure that the most vulnerable consumers are protected as they access financial services, by identifying and building knowledge on emerging risks and working with stakeholders—financial service providers, investors, policymakers—to ensure their practices promote the well-being of customers.</p>
<p>Guided by the Client Protection Principles, which have been widely adopted by the inclusive finance sector, consumer protection is woven into all of CFI’s work. It was the driving force of the <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smart Campaign</a>, and dozens of organizations that achieved <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign/certified-organizations/">Smart certification</a> demonstrated that consumer protection is woven into their work, too.</p>
<p>Our current agenda tackles some of the most pressing barriers to building a protective and inclusive financial system for low-income clients, including urgent consumer protection challenges presented by COVID-19, adoption of tech-enabled market monitoring innovations relevant to consumer protection, and mapping inclusive finance stakeholders and incentives in a dynamic sector of new players</p>


<p>Responsible financial inclusion is being fully transparent in the pricing, terms and conditions of all financial products. Responsible financial inclusion is working with clients so they do not borrow more money than they can repay or use products that they do not need. Responsible financial inclusion employs respectful collection practices and adopts high ethical standards in the treatment of clients. Responsible financial inclusion gives clients a way to address their complaints so they can be served more effectively. Responsible financial inclusion ensures client data remains private. Responsible financial inclusion protects clients, businesses, and the industry as a whole.</p>
<p>The Client Protection Principles are the minimum standards that clients should expect to receive when doing business with a financial service provider. These principles were distilled from the path-breaking work by providers, international networks, and national microfinance associations to develop pro-client codes of conduct and practices. There is consensus within the financial inclusion industry that providers of financial services should adhere to these core principles:</p>
<h3>Appropriate product design and delivery</h3>
<p>Providers will take adequate care to design products and delivery channels in such a way that they do not cause clients harm. Products and delivery channels will be designed with client characteristics taken into account.</p>
<h3>Prevention of over-indebtedness</h3>
<p>Providers will take adequate care in all phases of their credit process to determine that clients have the capacity to repay without becoming over-indebted. In addition, providers will implement and monitor internal systems that support prevention of overindebtedness and will foster efforts to improve market level credit risk management (such as credit information sharing).</p>
<h3>Transparency</h3>
<p>Providers will communicate clear, sufficient and timely information in a manner and language clients can understand so that clients can make informed decisions. The need for transparent information on pricing, terms and conditions of products is highlighted.</p>
<h3>Responsible pricing</h3>
<p>Pricing, terms and conditions will be set in a way that is affordable to clients while allowing for financial institutions to be sustainable. Providers will strive to provide positive real returns on deposits.</p>
<h3>Fair and respectful treatment of clients</h3>
<p>Financial service providers and their agents will treat their clients fairly and respectfully. They will not discriminate. Providers will ensure adequate safeguards to detect and correct corruption as well as aggressive or abusive treatment by their staff and agents, particularly during the loan sales and debt collection processes.</p>
<h3>Privacy of client data</h3>
<p>The privacy of individual client data will be respected in accordance with the laws and regulations of individual jurisdictions. Such data will only be used for the purposes specified at the time the information is collected or as permitted by law, unless otherwise agreed with the client.</p>
<h3>Mechanisms for complaint resolution</h3>
<p>Providers will have in place timely and responsive mechanisms for complaints and problem resolution for their clients and will use these mechanisms both to resolve individual problems and to improve their products and services.</p>


Latest Blogs

Client Voices: Rwandans Speak on Digital Financial Services

More Research

Responsible financial inclusion encompasses core Client Protection Principles to help financial service providers practice good ethics and smart business.

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<blockquote><p>Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) is an annual gathering of the global community working to advance inclusive finance.</p></blockquote>
<p>FIW is a forum for exchanging ideas, developments, perspectives and convening stakeholders all around the world. It’s an opportunity for CFI and partner organizations to showcase our work, share ideas on what’s ahead, and more. CFI leads this convening every year by providing the space, highlighting our contributions along with the year&#8217;s themes. FIW 2021 will have over a dozen plenary events and likely more than 100 community events and asynchronous content &#8212; all hosted on its virtual platform.</p>
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<p>FIW 2021 has concluded, but here are ways to remain involved:</p>
<ul>
<li>Visit <a href="http://www.financialinclusionweek.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">financialinclusionweek.org</a> to access the platform, view the 2021 agenda, live illustrations, and more</li>
<li><a href="https://bit.ly/FIWemails" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign up for emails</a></li>
<li>Follow/search #finclusionweek on LinkedIn and Twitter</li>
<li>Watch <a href="https://financialinclusionweek.org/agenda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recordings of the live and on-demand sessions</a></li>
<li>Stay tuned in 2022 for announcements about next year&#8217;s event!</li>
</ul>
<p>As a global community, we have witnessed the power of financial inclusion in helping people cope with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Government-to-person payments were distributed at a level never before seen, using <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/rapid-response-for-social-payments-during-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">innovative approaches</a> to identify recipients and disburse payments. With support from their investors, financial service providers worked closely with clients to <a href="https://www.cgap.org/research/covid-19-briefing/debt-relief-pandemic-lessons-india-peru-and-uganda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restructure outstanding debt</a> and provide <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/q-and-a-using-comics-for-covid-19-awareness/">information services</a> on the health crisis. And fintech providers <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/rapid-innovation-how-fintechs-are-adapting-under-covid-19/">rapidly innovated</a> to serve clients in the complex and evolving context of the pandemic.</p>
<p>Amid the crisis, we remain optimistic about the role financial services play in building financial resilience and helping people navigate difficult situations. Yet the crisis is far from over and <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/updated-estimates-impact-covid-19-global-poverty-turning-corner-pandemic-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatens to reverse years of progress</a> in reducing extreme poverty. We remain committed in our resolve to work toward a world in which all people are able to use financial services and access economic opportunities to improve their lives. And to do so requires partnership, learning from each other, dialogue, and community. This is the ambition of Financial Inclusion Week.</p>


Join Us Again This Year!

FIW 2021 By The Numbers

Watch FIW 2021 Sessions

<p>We tackled <strong>four themes</strong> we believe are crucial to a more financially inclusive world (+the pandemic&#8217;s impacts). These themes mirror CFI&#8217;s new strategic priorities:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-week/womens-financial-inclusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Women’s Financial Inclusion</a></li>
<li><a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-week/data-opportunities-and-risks-for-financial-inclusion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Data Opportunities and Risks for Financial Inclusion</a></li>
<li><a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-week/financial-services-for-mitigating-and-adapting-to-climate-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Services for Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Risk</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-week/consumer-protection-fiw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Consumer Protection</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/financial-inclusion-week/future-of-financial-inclusion-after-covid-19-and-other-topics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Future of Financial Inclusion After COVID-19</a></li>
</ul>
<p>(Visit <a href="http://www.financialinclusionweek.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">financialinclusionweek.org</a> for previous years&#8217; themes, FAQ&#8217;s about FIW, and more.)</p>


A global gathering of the inclusive finance community

About

<p>The Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC) has, for over a decade, brought together the leading entities that make equity investments in financial inclusion and beyond in the developing world.</p>
<p>Our mission is to strengthen the financial inclusion industry and advance the expansion of commercial financial service providers by helping FIEC members deepen their relationships with their investees, enhance the performance of their investments and develop best practices and standards. Our members are leading entities making active, long term, and sustainable equity investments in institutions focusing on under or un-served clients, with the goal of achieving greater financial inclusion. The Financial Inclusion Equity Council aims to be forward-looking and continuously learn and evolve as the industry changes. The Council promotes responsible impact investing in financial inclusion, and looks to improve transparency.</p>
<p>FIEC primarily focuses on issues related to good governance, providing members with relevant transaction and valuation data, tracking the global flow of funds, documenting the impact of new entrants and business models in the market, and exploring technical fund management issues.</p>
<p>CFI is the secretariat of FIEC.</p>


FIEC Responds

Upcoming Events

Members

Member Stats

Active Members

Activities

Eligibility and Benefits

<h2>Eligibility</h2>
<p>FIEC membership is comprised of active investors in MFIs. Qualifications for membership include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Focus on both social and financial returns</li>
<li>Focus on financial inclusion</li>
<li>At least two existing equity investments in financial inclusion*</li>
<li>Active in governance</li>
<li>Ability to pay annual fees of $5,000 in a timely manner</li>
<li>Willingness to actively participate in FIEC meetings and initiatives</li>
</ul>
<p>*FIEC welcomes funds with different investment policies, regardless of whether they choose to pursue minority or majority stakes.</p>
<h2>Member Benefits</h2>
<p>The Financial Inclusion Equity Council provides a platform for peer-to-peer exchange so members can gain new insights, and network with other members. Through FIEC, members can share lessons learned  with other members, and can provide relevant benchmarks to the industry. FIEC stimulates discussion and debate the topics of interest to active investors in financial inclusion.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Exchange and Collaboration:</strong> FIEC is a unique forum, in that is the only venue in which direct investors in microfinance can meet, exchange ideas and experiences, and hold frank discussions about their challenges and strategies in a collegial environment. Meetings are purposely kept small in order to facilitate conversation, so that members can speak openly and honestly about their concerns and learn from each others’ experiences.</li>
<li><strong>Forward-Looking Industry Research:</strong> The Council is seen as a “go-to” resource for information on industry challenges, trends and opportunities.  Members have an opportunity to both voice their concerns and ideas through industry publications and to benefit from the release of such publications. The FIEC carefully selects its research initiatives based on membership directives and its perception of a project’s ability to move the industry forward.</li>
<li><strong>Member-Only Initiatives:</strong> The Council undertakes a number of initiatives that ultimately provide information and benefits only to FIEC members. These initiatives encompass a variety of research topics – from valuation to governance to compensation practices.</li>
<li><strong>Meetings:</strong> FIEC organizes a Council-wide meeting every 6–9 months, typically for 1.5 days of discussion, case studies and networking. Other meetings, including conference calls and smaller working group roundtables, are held on an ad hoc basis.</li>
<li><strong>Promotion of Investors’ Perspective:</strong> FIEC works to raise awareness about microfinance investment, by representing the investors’ perspective, dedication to a double bottom line, and industry best practices and standards.  On this front, it works not only within the microfinance industry but also within the broader emerging markets, investment, and socially responsible communities.</li>
</ul>
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Latest Work

Meet the Team

A forum for financial inclusion equity investors

<p>The social enterprise sector strives to serve underserved communities and create societal change, all while delivering quality products and services, generating revenue and investment, achieving scale, and much more. Amid these demands, corporate governance can sink to the bottom of organizational priorities, but it is crucial for the success of the business.</p>
<p>The Board Leadership for Impact Program (BLI) is dedicated to empowering corporate leaders in the social enterprise sector to achieve business growth and social impact. By focusing exclusively on executive leadership and reframing board effectiveness as a strategic imperative, BLI strengthens leadership and management to ensure these companies sustain business growth and drive social impact.</p>
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Workshops

BLI in Action

What you can expect from participating in BLI

BLI In Action

Syllabus and Structure

<p>BLI is designed for social enterprise leaders to learn and exchange ideas about issues critical to social enterprise growth and impact. BLI is offered as a two-day interactive workshop where participants gather with faculty and facilitators for role play, simulations, discussions, and more. Prior to the workshop, participants convene on our virtual portal to access resources and videos, participate in discussions, and connect with like-minded leaders confronting similar challenges. Following the workshop, participants stay connected through the portal, joining hundreds of social enterprise leaders in our global network. <a href="/about/what-we-do/board-leadership-for-impact-program#workshops">Workshops</a> are offered in East Africa and <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1sM3Ml7LnToGOOvj2JEpLyA3v9yk">Asia</a> throughout the year.</p>
<p>Our syllabus spans inclusive finance to digitalization, but is grounded in board effectiveness—a foundational issue applicable to all companies, no matter its industry or maturity. Participants will walk away with new perspectives, practical tools and useful lessons they can immediately put into action.</p>
<p>Engineered to make strategic leadership come alive and resonate in meaningful ways, BLI re-energizes CEOs, executives and board members to develop and sustain behavioral and institutional change.</p>
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Faculty and Staff

Faculty

Eligibility

<p>BLI is restricted to C-suite executives and board members of companies in the social enterprise sector working with underserved clients. Ideally, the CEO and board chair would attend the same in-person workshop together to catalyze change upon returning to the organization.</p>
<p>To participate in BLI, you and your company must meet the following requirements:</p>
<p><strong>Participant Profile</strong></p>
<p>Serve as a C-suite executive or board member, e.g., CEO/President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Board Chair, etc.</p>
<p><strong>Company Profile<br />
</strong>Companies and institutions of any stage—from early stage to mature—that offer financial services to underserved customers and operate in emerging markets around the world are welcome to participate in BLI.</p>
<ul>
<li>Work in the social enterprise sector in financial inclusion, agriculture, education, energy, housing or related field</li>
<li>Provide financial products or services (either standalone or alongside other products or services)</li>
<li>Operate in emerging markets from any part of the world</li>
<li>Demonstrated commitment to serving low-income, vulnerable or otherwise underserved clients</li>
</ul>
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News and Events

The Value of Board Effectiveness

BLI participants talk to us about what governance and board effectiveness means to them. 

Understanding the Value of Board Effectiveness

Stay Connected

Partners

The Citi Foundation and FMO, the Dutch development bank, are both partners for this initiative supporting program implementation and participant scholarships.

Board effectiveness executive education for social enterprise leaders

<h3>*Note: This program is now managed by Accion. Please visit Accion&#8217;s <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/influence/hbs-accion-program-on-strategic-leadership-in-inclusive-finance">program page</a> for the most up-to-date information.*</h3>
<p>The intensive six-day program offers leaders from around the world an exceptional opportunity to connect with peers and engage with some of the HBS faculty&#8217;s foremost thinkers in business strategy and management. The HBS Executive Education learning model immerses the world’s most promising leaders in a transformational experience that marries the best of strategic thinking with the most important advances in financial inclusion and impact investing.</p>
<h1>Approach</h1>
<p>Given the increased interest of mainstream financial institutions and others in reaching customers at the base of the pyramid, the course begins with an intensive survey of the microfinance industry and the operations of its leading institutions, provided by HBS faculty and experienced Accion practitioners. The program also addresses key strategic issues arising out of the dual goals of economic and social value creation that have defined the industry, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>How new business models in this space—especially technology-enhanced models—succeed or flounder</li>
<li>How to successfully compete in highly competitive markets</li>
<li>How to balance one’s social mission with financial considerations</li>
<li>How to stay abreast of rapidly evolving products and delivery channels</li>
</ul>
<p>Participants will learn primarily through the case study approach as pioneered by HBS. Through these guided case discussions, participants work collaboratively to identify practical business strategies from the experiences of leading institutions and apply these lessons learned to their own institutions following the end of the Program. Decision makers from the case studies often join participants in the classroom—either on site or via video link—to engage in live dialogue and dive deeper into key concepts.</p>


<p>Program benefits include:</p>
<ul>
<li>A platform for financial inclusion leaders within financial services companies, government agencies, support organizations, and knowledge institutions to discuss, share ideas, and gain new expertise</li>
<li>An intensive six days of learning using the world-renowned HBS case study methodology, learning from and analyzing the decisions of financial inclusion leaders at critical moments</li>
<li>Access to distinguished HBS faculty and subject-matter experts in business strategy and management</li>
<li>The opportunity to expand your network and to connect with like-minded peers from around the world facing similar issues and to learn from their experiences</li>
</ul>
<h1>Who Should Apply</h1>
<ul>
<li>MFI and financial institution executives and managers</li>
<li>Impact investors</li>
<li>Fintech entreprenuers</li>
<li>Policymakers and regulators</li>
<li>MNO and telecommunications providers</li>
<li>International development/financial inclusion practitioners</li>
</ul>
<h1>Why You Should Apply</h1>
<ul>
<li>Bolster your strategic thinking about serving clients at the base of the pyramid by analyzing real-life cases</li>
<li>Re-evaluate your role and the role of your organization in the financial inclusion space</li>
<li>Deepen and expand your knowledge of business strategy and management alongside like-minded peers and the foremost thinkers in the field</li>
<li>Raise the caliber of your leadership skills</li>
</ul>


Behind the Scenes

Citi Foundation supports a limited number of partial scholarships to participants who otherwise cannot attend the program due to cost.

Shaping the next generation of inclusive finance leaders

Mission & Vision

Our Mission

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An independent global think tank

The Center for Financial Inclusion uses rigorous research and advocacy to advance inclusive financial systems for low-income people around the world.

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Our Focus Areas

Ways we seek to improve outcomes for the poor

Consumer Protection. Data Risks and Opportunities. Women's Financial Inclusion. Climate Change.

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CFI's Strategy, 2020-2024

Crisis and Opportunity: Reimagining Inclusive Finance After the Pandemic

What We Do

COVID-19 and MSMEs: Data and Analysis to Understand Impact

Women's Financial Inclusion

Consumer Protection

Financial Inclusion Week

Financial Inclusion Equity Council

Board Leadership for Impact Program

HBS-Accion Program on Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance

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