VISION OF THE FUTURE: FINANCIAL INCLUSION 2025

FOUR MAJOR FORCES ARE LIKELY TO FUNDAMENTALLY RESHAPE POOR PEOPLE’S LIVES AND THE FINANCIAL INCLUSION INDUSTRY

While the future for poor people and financial inclusion is difficult to predict, we have a responsibility to think through plausible, divergent futures to ensure financial services better serve the needs of poor people in the coming years.

CGAP and Accenture Development Partnerships brought together more than 100 thought leaders, innovators, development actors, and academics to ponder the question, “In what ways will financial services influence inequality and economic participation for poor people by 2025?” The initiative uncovered several insights that point to four major forces that are likely to fundamentally reshape poor people’s lives and the financial inclusion industry itself:

• Digital Technologies. Will the spread of digital technologies and the digitization of information flows benefit poor people?

• Globalization. Will the globalization of capital, information, and ideas change the way poor people engage in society?

• Migration. Will poor people continue to move domestically and internationally?

• Nature of Work. Will the changing world of work affect poor people?

This vision of the future is intended to help us be more prepared for any future scenario, and hopefully it can also help us shape financial inclusion for the better.