Financial Inclusion, Women, and Building Back Better

Financial inclusion occurs when adults have access to appropriate, affordable, and well-regulated financial services to meet their needs effectively and improve their lives. Financial inclusion is a growing global phenomenon.

Since 2011, more than one billion adults have opened an account at a financial institution, such as a bank or a mobile money provider. Despite the progress, however, women continue to lag behind men. In low- and middle-income economies, men are 9 percentage points more likely than women to have an account, a gender gap that has stubbornly persisted.

And there is considerably variation among countries. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments across the world are providing relief payments and financial support to citizens and businesses. If such transfers could be transacted digitally, this might help unbanked people, especially women, obtain accounts for the first time.

Join IOB and Leora Klapper, Lead Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Research Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank, as she discusses financial inclusion, women, and building back better.

The event will be held over Zoom. Please ensure you have access to Zoom in advance of the event taking place. Zoom is available on all PCs, laptops, tablets and Apple or Android devices.

The link to join the event will be emailed to registered members on the day of the event. The registration for the event will close once we reach capacity or at 12pm the day before the event.