MetLife Foundation and Accion: Seeking opportunities to advance financial inclusion

Accion, MetLife Foundation, and the Chinese Association of Microfinance launched the first holistic, systematic microfinance management training and capacity building initiative in China. The program involved a hands-on approach so participants could develop their leadership and management skills, as well as sound technical knowledge in microfinance operations and human capital management. The program reached 73 participants from 34 leading microfinance institutions which serve more than one million clients.

We recently expanded our partnership with programs that leverage digital solutions to enhance underserved customers’ financial capabilities and engagement. In Latin America, we are working to better understand customer needs and help financial service providers design, test, and implement innovations that drive usage and improve customers’ financial capabilities. In Eastern Europe, we are partnering with Microfinance Centre, a regional microfinance resource center and network of organizations in Europe and Central Asia, to develop and promote digital tools that providers can use to diagnose clients’ financial health, identify gaps, and develop actionable plans to improve their financial well-being.

Accion and MetLife Foundation pursue joint opportunities — like content collaborations, speaking opportunities, research, and commentary — to engage the industry and help it better reach the underserved. Accion shares stories of our impact through MetLife Foundation initiatives like the Wall Street Journal’s Multipliers of Prosperity platform and the Next Billion blog. Together, the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) and MetLife Foundation support the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Microscope, which benchmarks national progress on financial inclusion around the world and catalyzes reform. And a two-year initiative between CFI, the Institute of International Finance, and MetLife Foundation is using research, knowledge exchange, best practices, real world examples, and expert insights, to identify and share practical guidance that financial institutions can use to expand quality services to the poor.

In 2011, CFI launched an initiative using 2020 as a target date to spur the financial inclusion community to more significant impact. MetLife Foundation advised the effort and provided financial support to CFI’s working groups, each tasked with creating a roadmap for a different enabler of inclusion. This effort culminated in a global forum that brought together practitioners and thought leaders in financial inclusion. To help sustain the momentum, the Foundation sponsored several CFI initiatives to develop tools and research for the industry.

Today, MetLife Foundation continues to be a thought partner, a collaborator, a funder, and an advisor to Accion, providing critical support for our efforts to build a financially inclusive world.