Executive summary

Financial-sector policymakers and financial service providers are facing both a real challenge and unique opportunity to drive economic inclusion for about three billion people and spur growth toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The good news from the World Bank’s Global Findex Database 2025 is that 79 percent of adults globally and 75 percent in low- and middle-income economies (LMIEs) now have a financial account of some kind. Mobile phones are even more ubiquitous, with 86 percent of adults globally and 84 percent in LMIEs having one, which in most contexts can be used to access financial services. This means about four out of every five people have the potential to save safely and borrow prudently to meet their financial needs and the potential to pay and be paid digitally. This is good news for the individuals, their families, and for these economies because, as the IMF has found,
financial inclusion serves as a catalyst for both economic participation and inclusive growth.

However, the majority of adults in LMIEs that have a financial account do not yet fully engage with the formal financial sector. Only 40 percent of adults in LMIEs (on average) saved formally and only 24 percent of adults in LMIEs (on average) borrowed from a formal financial service provider in the last year and even they do not necessarily have the type of credit they need.¹Klapper et al., The Global Findex Database 2025, xxxiii, 152, 154, 218. There are, therefore, about three billion people who could actively engage in the formal financial sector, and they present both a challenge for financial sector leaders and an opportunity for accelerating inclusive growth.

The main reasons adults in LMIEs do not use formal digital financial services are affordability, lack of trust in service providers, and lack of products to meet their needs. Rapid advances in digital public infrastructure (DPI) and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to directly tackle these challenges. Together they can reduce costs, increase trust, and tailor products for individuals, thereby improving lives and driving growth:

• DPI has been endorsed by the Group of Twenty since India’s presidency in 2023.²Solly Malatsi, “Opening Address G20 Digital Economy Working Group,” Minister, South African Government, September 29, 2025, https://www.gov.za/news/speeches/minister-solly-malatsi-opening-address-g20-digital-economy-working-group-29-sep-2025; and Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository, Initiative of the Indian Group of 20 Presidency, https://www.dpi.global/. Ninety-seven countries now have DPI-like digital payments; sixty-four countries have digital IDs, and 103 have data exchange—together reducing costs and increasing trust.³“The Digital Public Infrastructure Map,” DPI Mapping Project, https://dpimap.org/.
• AI, by cheaply analyzing massive data sets, is turbocharging cost reduction and product tailoring, which translates into greater affordability and access for people on lower incomes.⁴Sophie Sirtaine, “AI’s Promise: A New Era for Financial Inclusion,” CGAP Leadership Essay Series blog, CGAP, April 4, 2025, https://www.cgap.org/blog/ais-promise-new-era-for-financial-inclusion.

Yet, there are potentially problematic aspects to these exciting innovations. DPI has the potential for loss of data privacy (if privacy by design is not embedded), for rent extraction (if not an open-source platform), and for government surveillance (if DPI safeguards are not central).⁵Zoran Jordanoski, “Safeguarding Digital Public Infrastructure: A Global Imperative for Sustainable Development,” United Nations
University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance, July 9, 2025, https://unu.edu/egov/article/safeguarding-digital-public-infrastructure-global-imperative-sustainable-development. AI has the potential to turbocharge fraud, scams, and identity theft and compromise trust.⁶Eric Duflos, “AI and Responsible Finance: A Double-Edged Sword,” AI and the Future of Financial Inclusion blog series, CGAP,
April 29, 2025, https://www.cgap.org/blog/ai-and-responsible-finance-double-edged-sword.

Therefore, government financial-sector regulators and policymakers have urgent and important decisions to make about how to enact and enforce responsible guardrails in the financial ecosystem. These guardrails are essential so new customers have affordable, appropriate products, can trust their money and data are safe, and have effective recourse mechanisms if problems occur. National coordination at the highest level is essential, regional approaches including policy harmonization can be cost-effective, and urgency is imperative. Financial-service leaders also have key decisions to make about how to design affordable and responsible financial products that build trust, enable resilience, and foster financial well-being and economic growth. There is now a unique opportunity for financial-sector leaders to unleash economic potential for three billion people and accelerate inclusive growth.

Ruth Goodwin-Groen is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. Goodwin-Groen brings thirty years of strategic and technical leadership in financial-sector development and financial inclusion in emerging markets to
her current consulting practice, Goodwin-Groen Consulting. Her focus is on responsible digital financial inclusion and equality in financial services for women.

Goodwin-Groen is best known as the founding managing director of the United Nations-hosted Better Than Cash Alliance, which created a global movement from cash to responsible digital payments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Alliance
members and partners include over 113 governments, 229 companies, and most of the UN—accounting for over 90 percent of global gross domestic product.

Goodwin-Groen has a PhD in financial-sector development from the University of Bath, an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor of Science with Honors from the University of Western Australia.

The author extends special thanks to those providing expert input on this paper: Isabelle Carboni, Expert Consultant; Eric Duflos, CGAP; Nicole Goldin, United Nations University-Centre for Policy Research & Atlantic Council; Leora Klapper, World Bank; David Porteous, Integral: Governance solutions; and Camilo Tellez-Merchan, Gates Foundation. She also deeply appreciates the input of Atlantic Council colleagues Josh Lipsky, Sophia Busch, and Juliet Lancey as well as those who contributed to the findings and recommendations of this report through their participation in two roundtable discussions at the Atlantic Council in April and October of 2025. See the Appendix for a list of the participants. This report was made possible in part by a grant from Tala.

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