Accelerating Financial Inclusion With New Data

This report examines how new types of data and new data tools offer an unprecedented opportunity for financial service providers to better understand and serve clients, especially credit-seeking “thin-file” clients who are otherwise excluded from the formal financial sector. It takes stock of how the data landscape is evolving, describes new types of data tools, and assesses how firms are innovating around data, and where they have experienced setbacks.

The report discusses the many internal and external challenges that providers must address for the promise of new data to be fully realized. From getting the right culture and technical talent in place to engaging with regulators and partners on data sharing and management, there are numerous obstacles to negotiate in capitalizing on the explosion of new data to reach underserved and unserved markets with new commercially viable solutions.

This report is not an attempt to provide a “how-to” guide for navigating the various stages of the data value chain—there are too many contingencies to prescribe a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Instead, it is an effort to shed light on the potential of data to improve financial services for the underserved.