International Funding for Financial Inclusion: Key Trends and Developments

The 2017 edition of CGAP’s annual Cross-Border Funder Survey reports funding commitments from the 23 largest international funders of financial inclusion, representing 80% of the full set of over 54 international funders and 73% of the global estimated funding commitments for financial inclusion in 2016.

This brief looks at the key trends and developments in funding for financial inclusion and shares key facts from the CGAP Funders Survey:

• International funders are increasingly targeting capacity building for financial services providers (FSPs) and financial inclusion policy and regulation;
• Every funder in the survey supports the development of digital financial services;
• Funding of loan portfolios continues to represent three-quarters of the overall funding volume in 2016, but it is no longer exclusive to FSPs and intermediaries;
• Mobile money operators and other digital services providers are also a focus for financial and technical assistance at the retail level;
• Capacity building of providers represents 7% of the overall funding volume;
• Payments infrastructure has grown to be an important focus for funders and represents one-third of overall funding for financial sector infrastructure (2% of overall funding);
• Capacity building for end-clients (individuals, households, and enterprises), policy, and regulation for financial inclusion collectively account for 5% of overall funding.