Spotlight on International Funders’ Commitments to Financial Inclusion

This brief analyzes trends in the international funding landscape based on a survey of 56 international funders. The total commitment of these funders toward financial inclusion in 2014 was USD 23.6 billion, representing 76% of the global estimate. The brief finds that despite continued pressure on public resources, public funders increased their commitments to financial inclusion in the past two years by an estimated average of 11% annually. Other key findings include:

• Majority of international funders reported that they prioritize the insufficient range of suitable products and services and the limited institutional capacity of financial services providers (FSPs) while making funding decisions;
• Out of 1,387 funding projects undertaken to enhance FSPs’ capacity, 371 projects supported product development and 351 projects aimed to improve the operations of FSPs;
• Funders committed USD 0.6 billion to support the market infrastructure and USD 0.5 billion to develop enabling policy environments;
• Debt financing continues to be the most important instrument in terms of volume of commitments but majority of international funders used grants as an instrument to support financial inclusion;
• Sub-Saharan Africa topped funders’ financial inclusion projects with 788 projects;
• India, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, and Peru received the most international funding and accounted for 25% of total commitments.