The Citi Foundation and Accion: Expanding financial inclusion for the underserved

Technology is driving massive change in financial services, and the Citi Foundation helps Accion ensure that this transformation benefits low-income populations. Mobile phones, AI, chatbots, and other forms of technology are disrupting the financial services industry. These new technologies have tremendous potential to help create inclusive products: they can reduce costs, accelerate turnaround times, and create more personalized and useful services for the underserved. But technology needs to be harnessed in a way that benefits and protects low-income consumers.

With funding from the Citi Foundation, Accion helps financial service providers integrate new technology to reach the underserved, and publishes research that informs the broader industry.

The Citi Foundation is enabling Accion to develop and expand its Global Advisory Solutions team. Accion is now able to use the lessons we have learned through decades of work with financial services providers to help our partners capitalize on the value of their data, leveraging technology and automation to transform their business processes, and better engage existing and new customers.

Through this additional capacity, Accion has helped partners digitize and scale their efforts to reach the underserved. These partners include Swadhaar Finserve and Aye Finance in India, Accion Microfinance Bank in Nigeria, Socremo in Mozambique, DAWN Microfinance in Myanmar, and UGAFODE in Uganda.

Accion’s relationship with the Citi Foundation has enabled new research and insights for the financial inclusion community. Recent examples include:

• Financial Inclusion Hype vs. Reality from CFI explores the World Bank’s 2017 Findex data and highlights key financial inclusion indicators, including account usage, borrowing, saving, and resilience.
• Demystifying Digital Lending from Accion Global Advisory Solutions explains how strategic digital transformations can help financial service providers reach new customers, drive engagement, and help more people benefit from the world’s financial sector.
• Finance for All: Wedded to Fintech for Better or Worse examines risks (or “banana skins”) in the provision of financial services to the underserved in emerging markets.
• Unlocking the Promise of Big Data to Promote Financial Inclusion from Accion Global Advisory Solutions shows how financial service providers can improve their data capabilities.

Through this partnership, Accion’s advisory team is expanding its direct work with financial service providers worldwide and continuing to share insights with the industry. At the same time, the Citi Foundation-funded research and publications move forward at CFI.

And Accion relies on leaders from Citi and the Citi Foundation to guide our work: Bob Annibale, Global Director, Citi Community Development and Inclusive Finance, serves on Accion’s Board of Directors, and Philip Brown, Managing Director, Citi Inclusive Finance, serves on the CFI Advisory Council.