Advancing Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion

CAFIN and UC Investments Speaker Series Financial Risks, Innovation and Inclusion in a Post-COVID World

with Leora Klapper, Lead Economist, Finance and Private Sector Research Team, Development Research Group, World Bank

Digital financial services have expanded opportunities for millions of women across the globe. Access to formal financial products can support women’s financial resilience as they are impacted by and recover from COVID-19 and the associated economic challenges. 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. This talk will discuss actions for public- and private-sector entities to build an enabling, resilient, and responsible digital financial infrastructure and ecosystem, and help close the gender gap in financial inclusion.

The economic crisis associated with COVID-19 pandemic has altered all aspects of our lives. In a new CAFIN speaker series, we will focus on financial challenges and developments. Among the questions that are relevant are: What are the risks to the global financial system in the medium to long run? Is the banking system robust enough? What kinds of future policy interventions might be necessary? What changes to payment systems and other financial innovations have been accelerated by the crisis? How do contagion control policies affect populations that are traditionally underserved by the financial sector? Will financial inclusion be more difficult to achieve after the pandemic?