Driving Women's Financial Inclusion at All Levels
Explore the latest global and regional insights from Women’s World Banking’s work in policy, leadership, women’s entrepreneurship, gender lens investing, and more.
Latest Posts
![2019 10Oct22 WomensWorldBanking 326 1 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2019_10Oct22_WomensWorldBanking-326-1-scaled-1.jpg)
Women’s World Banking Announces 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge to Elevate Fintechs with New Solutions to Close the Gender Gap in Financial Services
Competition invites later stage fintechs pioneering innovative financial solutions for the low-income women’s market to apply; finalists and winner to access premier fintech networks and resources NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2022 – Women’s World Banking announced today the 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge, a global competition to highlight and advance solutions to
![shutterstock 659605243 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/shutterstock_659605243-scaled-1.jpg)
Leaving Money on the Table: There’s Nothing Micro About a Billion Women Excerpt
Originally posted on Stanford Social Innovation Review. $700 billion. That’s how much banks and other financial service providers could generate in additional annual revenue if they do nothing more than provide financial services to women at the same rate they are provided to men. In overlooking the women’s market, the financial industry
![shutterstock 2030974166 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/shutterstock_2030974166-scaled-1.jpg)
Global Hub Launched to Eradicate Women’s Digital Financial Exclusion and Accelerate Women’s Business Ownership
New Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion Advocacy Hub to Champion Equal Access to Digital Financial Services for Women; Initial Efforts to Support Local Coalitions in Indonesia and Ethiopia; as well as Encourage Others to Join the Coalition NEW YORK – July 20, 2022 – Women’s World Banking and the UN Capital
![WWB 100 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WWB-100-scaled-1.jpg)
How Digital Wallets are Transforming Remittances as an Entry-point for Domestic Workers into Formal Financial Services
This is the third in a three-part series examining a fresh approach to digital remittances in Indonesia. By Angela Ang, Elwyn Panggabean, and Ker Thao Over the last six months, we launched a pilot program with DANA, one of Indonesia’s largest e-wallet providers, to provide a digital remittance solution for
![WWB 77 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WWB-77-scaled-1.jpg)
Ultra Micro Entrepreneurs in Indonesia – How Financial Capability Education and Customer Centered Design Solutions are Key to Growth and Resilience
By Angela Ang, Elwyn Panggabean, Ker Thao, Nonggol Darapati As the world shifts to living in a new normal world, while still recovering from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, no other shift has been greater than the shift from traditional economies to what is now known today as the
![](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/MEI.Twitter.1200x675.bw2_.jpg)
Driving Gender Equality in the Financial System with Women’s World Banking CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian
Mary Ellen begins with the book’s central idea: microfinance is not a solution to women’s financial inclusion. Born in the 1970s, microfinance entailed providing small, unsecured loans to people from low socioeconomic backgrounds so that they could successfully start and grow their own businesses. Microfinance quickly became popular as a
![2019 10Oct22 WomensWorldBanking 195 2 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2019_10Oct22_WomensWorldBanking-195-2-scaled-1.jpg)
A Q&A with Mary Ellen Iskenderian On “There’s Nothing Micro About a Billion Women”: The Micro and Macro Impact of Empowering Women Through Financial Inclusion
Nearly one billion women remain outside the formal financial system, unable to participate in or benefit from financial growth and prosperity. Despite advances for women in recent decades, the gender gap in financial inclusion stubbornly remains at 9% across the emerging markets, requiring greater efforts from financial service providers and
![BRI Image Featured scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/BRI_Image_Featured-scaled-1.jpg)
How to get low-income women to save in bank accounts
By Angela Ang and Elwyn Panggabean, Women’s World Banking Last year, we collaborated with Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of Indonesia’s largest state-owned banks involved in distributing benefits of the PKH (Program Keluarga Harapan or Family Hope Program), a conditional cash transfer program for low-income families. Together, we developed an
![Kashf Pakistan 42 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Kashf-Pakistan-42-scaled-1.jpg)
Women’s World Banking Network Members with Milestone Anniversaries Reflect on Championing Financial Inclusion
Spanning operations in 35 countries and comprised of 62 diverse financial services providers, Women’s World Banking’s Global Network is the only network focused on driving inclusive access to and usage of financial services for low-income women across the globe. In honor of Women’s History Month in March, we are proudly
![shutterstock 1593296614 scaled 1](https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/shutterstock_1593296614-scaled-1.jpg)
There’s Nothing Micro about a Billion Women: Making Finance Work for Women by Mary Ellen Iskenderian explores the transformative impact of financial inclusion
Why it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth. “In her book, Mary Ellen Iskenderian reminds us to ask where our bank finance flows and how much is used for building unequal wealth or destructive institutions that harm humans and the natural environment. How