Amy Stewart

Victoria White

Kathleen Yaworsky

Paul Lamont

Report

Digital lending can be a powerful force for financial inclusion. Innovations in digital lending are enabling financial service providers to offer better products to more underserved clients in faster, more cost-efficient, and engaging ways. This Accion Insights paper addresses common concerns, shares insights into new trends shaping digital lending, and distills emerging best practices into a framework that FSPs can use to implement digital lending today. Collectively, these steps are intended to help FSPs plan strategically to navigate the new and rapidly changing landscape of digital lending.

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Accion’s Global Advisory Solutions team developed this report with the support of the Citi Foundation.

Demystifying Digital Lending

Digital lending can be a potent force for financial inclusion. Traditionally, lending to underserved consumers has been time-consuming and costly for financial service providers (FSPs). Today, innovations in digital lending are enabling providers to offer better products to more underserved clients in faster, more cost-efficient, and engaging ways.

Demystifying digital lending

What does it take to start an inclusive fintech company? These entrepreneurs share the inspiration behind their startups and how they are using technology to bring meaningful financial inclusion to underserved populations around the world. 

Fintech founders up close

Supply chain finance (SCF) offers high-quality, low-risk financing to the small merchants that tend to be underserved by traditional lenders.

Supply chain finance

Test series

We are building a world with economic opportunity for all — where everyone can access, use, and benefit from a full range of high-quality, affordable financial services. Read the stories of real people whose lives have been improved by these efforts.

The real impact of financial inclusion

Coryell Stout

Amee Parbhoo

Related Content 

How the Best Fintech Startups Integrate Digital and Human Interaction to Accelerate Financial Inclusion

Digital technology continues to drive massive change throughout the financial sector. Acting strategically, inclusive fintech startups can use technology to increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved.

However, in too many instances, fintech startups make the same mistake time and again: they build technology for technology’s sake. These fintech models are great on paper but don’t consider the needs and preferences of their customers. They do not use new technologies strategically and fail to transform finance into a sector that works for everyone.

Fortunately, a number of successful inclusive startups are finding innovative ways to balance new digital technologies with appropriate human interactions to engage, educate, and support their customers. Finding the right combination of “tech and touch” at the right moments during a customer’s journey is a key factor in determining whether a startup succeeds or fails. Doing so will help a business acquire and retain customers, reduce expenses, increase profitability, and accelerate financial inclusion.

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This report was developed with the support of The Mastercard Foundation, which seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. The Foundation’s work is guided by its mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion for people living in poverty. One of the largest foundations in the world, it works almost exclusively in Africa. It was created in 2006 by Mastercard International and operates independently under the governance of its own Board of Directors. The Foundation is based in Toronto, Canada. For more information and to sign up for updates from the Foundation, please visit <a href="http://www.mastercardfdn.org">http://www.mastercardfdn.org</a>. Follow the Foundation <a href="https://twitter.com/mastercardfdn?lang=en">@MastercardFdn</a> on Twitter.

The Tech Touch Balance

Insights on how the best fintech startups integrate digital and human interaction to accelerate financial inclusion

The tech touch balance

Women are still disproportionately excluded from the financial services that let them take control of their lives. We’re working to solve this problem, and we have a diverse team leading the charge. Get to know the women at Accion and our portfolio partners who have dedicated their careers to helping empower women on a global scale.

Series