The female economy is large, fast-growing and underserved—and fintechs are well-positioned to tap into it. To help them embrace this win-win opportunity, the Financial Alliance for Women surveyed 168 fintechs and 30 investors and other ecosystem players from around the world. This report explores how fintechs have been approaching and serving the multi-trillion-dollar women’s market and offers insights and recommendations in six key areas to help drive more involvement.
This study examines the benefits to banks of integrating non-financial services (NFS) that can help mitigate these barriers into a women-focused SME banking proposition. Analysis of five SME banking models, in addition to previously published case studies and other resources, found that well-integrated NFS offers for WSMEs yield positive return on investment (ROI) within one to two years. This is demonstrated through four key metrics: increased interest income; share of wallet, which includes cross-sell, deposit volume and fee income, including fees charged for NFS participation; loyalty; and reduced risk.While increased interest income is often the largest contributor to ROI, particularly in the first one to two years, each of the four components mentioned above has been individually found to cover NFS costs. This signals an opportunity for banks to ensure their full product suite, along with communication and delivery, is tailored to WSMEs, as this can pave the way for the segment to take full advantage of the bank’s offers.
This third edition of GSMA Connected Women’s The Mobile Gender Gap Report considers how women’s mobile access and use are changing, and how efforts to reach women with technology should evolve alongside.
This report from the Financial Health Network presents findings from the second annual U.S. Financial Health Pulse, which is designed to explore how the financial health of people in America is changing over time. It explores financial health for the nation as a whole, across financial health indicators, among demographic groups, and at the level of individuals.
We live in an era of big data; massive amounts of information stream from cell phones, laptops, remote sensors, and an ever- growing host of technologies, even in the least developed and most isolated places in the world. Transforming this flood of data into actionable knowledge about the lives of women and girls is one of the great technical and moral tests of the 21st century. Data2X explores in this report.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Microscope assesses the enabling environment for financial inclusion across 5 categories and 55 countries. In this 2019 edition, the EIU examines how countries are promoting financial inclusion for both women and men, with 11 new gender-focused indicators added to the framework.
This annual report is based on information gathered in the Alliance’s Women’s Market Analytics Survey — the only collection of global banking data measuring the performance of financial institutions serving the female economy, with 5 years of performance data and over 400 data points per institution. Consistent with the trends that have emerged in previous reports, this third edition of “The Economics of Banking on Women” highlights a vast opportunity to better serve the Women’s Market and a strong business case for solutions tailored for women, with a significant uptick in members providing such solutions.
This report examines the growing opportunity in the high-net-worth segment, shares proven tactics and methods that FSPs are already using to embrace this opportunity, and identifies the key building blocks of a successful strategy for serving women of wealth. Based on this qualitative research, as well as data the Financial Alliance for Women has compiled during more than 15 years of practice, we developed a blueprint for FSPs looking to effectively serve women of wealth.
Sex-disaggregated financial inclusion data can help to inform better financial inclusion policies and products. This case study from the WFID partners explores the case of Mexico, where a combination of an evidence-based policy environment, robust gender equality policies, and strong statistical competence led to an increase in women’s financial inclusion data.
This report from Itaú Unibanco shares the bank’s Women’s Market journey and presents the main findings that guided the creation of their value proposition for the Itaú Women Entrepreneurs Program.
This report from RBS sets out recommendations to improve female start-up and scale-up rates and contribute £250 billion of new value to the UK economy.
Gender lens investing has grown exponentially as a way to increase financial returns and gender equality. What can Latin America and the Caribbean learn from it? This report from IDB Invest explores.
A study from InvestmentNews Research and Calvert Research and Management shows ESG is on the rise, and women are significantly more interested in it than men.
As women’s life expectancies increase and the rate of divorce for individuals over age 50 continues to climb, more women will find themselves solely responsible for their own finances. UBS Wealth Management US embarked on research to explore their thoughts andfeelings, the challenges they faced, lessons they learned and advice they would impart to other women.
The 9th Annual IMF Financial Access Survey covers 189 countries spanning more than 10 years. This Trends and Development report highlights some of the key takeaways from the data, including progress on women’s financial inclusion.
El presente informe de la SBIF constituye la decimoséptima edición de un compromiso institucional que, en lo fundamental, busca satisfacer requerimientos de información asociados al diseño e implementación de políticas públicas en materia de equidad de género. Entrega información de endeudamiento de mujeres y hombres en el sistema bancario chileno.
A growing number of studies in the field of behavioural science are examining factors that influence financial decisions. This paper reports on the effectiveness of various behavioural interventions that could reasonably be applied by financial services providers to increase women’s access to and usage of financial services.
This report is based on information gathered in the GBA’s Women’s Market Analytics Survey — the only collection of global banking data measuring the performance of financial institutions serving the Women’s Market, with 4 years of performance data and over 400 data points per institution. This second edition of the report bears out several trends that emerged in the previous edition, highlighting the strong business opportunity the Women’s Market represents.
Update: A previous version of this report was missing labels on one graph. We have corrected the error in this edition.
New digital technologies are revolutionizing the financial services industry around the world. Africa has been an innovation hub in this area, due to its rapid adoption of mobile communication networks. How might the explosion of fintech platforms and applications be tapped to foster greater financial inclusion, especially for women, who are underserved by traditional banking? This scoping paper from the IDRC and Mastercard explores available evidence on the uptake of fintech in Africa and how it is changing the financial landscape.
This report from Merrill Lynch explores how women’s financial needs and preferences are distinct. It examines the different life journeys women take—and the financial consequences of the circumstances and decisions they are faced with along the way. Finally, it shines a light on the importance of demonstrating respect and inclusion to facilitate a path to women’s financial freedom and wellness.
Data is one of the key elements necessary to create inclusive financial systems around the world. With more and improved WFI data, policymakers can design and monitor WFI interventions, and financial service providers can build a business case for targeting women as clients. This strategy document from the Women’s Financial Inclusion Data (WFID) partnership argues that only through a unified and sector-wide approach to the collection, analysis and use of gender data will women’s full financial inclusion be realized.
This World Bank report offers an assessment of the shortfalls and opportunities in financing micro, small and medium enterprises in emerging markets, discovering that the total MSME finance gap for women is estimated to be valued at US$1.7 trillion – over 6 percent of total GDP.
Building on the 2016 Sustainable Stock Exchange Report on Progress from the United Nations, which highlights five specific targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that exchanges are well placed to influence, this report examines the contribution exchanges can make toward SDG target 5.5: ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic, and public life, as well as the gender-specific targets under the other 16 SDGs.
The IMF measured the large gap between the representation of men and women in leadership positions in banks and bank supervision agencies worldwide. Their econometric analysis suggests that, controlling for relevant bank and country-specific factors, the presence of women as well as a higher share of women on bank boards is associated with greater bank stability, as represented by higher z-scores and lower nonperforming loan ratios.
Strong supporting conditions such as access to financial services and ease of doing business pave the way for progress in businesses owned by women. The inaugural Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs seeks to understand and track women’s progress and achievements in the business world, identifying which factors and conditions are most conducive to closing the gender gap among business owners in an economy.
While women and girls have made significant gains in the past decade in terms of education, health, economic participation and political leadership, gender equality has yet to be attained in many critical areas, and at the cost of substantial and unrealized social and market benefits. This report from BNY Mellon and the UN Foundation explores investment opportunities that can help close global gender gaps.
La Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) pone a disposición del público la octava edición del Reporte Nacional de Inclusión Financiera (Reporte o RNIF), el cual brinda un panorama del estado que guarda la inclusión financiera en el país, a partir de la evolución de diversos indicadores. Este Reporte es elaborado por la CNBV en conjunto con el Grupo de Trabajo de Medición del Consejo Nacional de Inclusión Financiera (Conaif). Por primera vez, el Reporte Nacional de Inclusión Financiera incluye un capítulo con perspectiva de género, el cual tiene como objetivo presentar el panorama actual de la inclusión financiera de la mujer en México. La brecha de género en la proporción de hombres y mujeres que tienen al menos un producto financiero disminuyó dos puntos porcentuales de 2012 a 2015.
This IFC study of the workforce at GBA member HBL in Pakistan examines the differences between employees who underwent gender awareness training and those who did not, finding striking results about the benefits of such training.
The Deloitte Global Center for Corporate Governance is proud to publish its fifth edition of Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective—one of the most globally comprehensive reports to measure both the efforts to increase board diversity and the progress that has been made to date.
This is the English version of the Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras of Chile’s 2016 report, “Gender in the Financial System,” intended to give the international community access to the country’s gender-based data on its financial system. (Versión en español)
ILO, in collaboration with Gallup, surveyed men and women in 2016 to understand their perceptions about women and work. The results suggest that men and women are not always as far apart in their attitudes as conventional wisdom might lead them – and governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations – to assume.
This OECD publication presents an original collection of indicators for measuring the state of entrepreneurship and its determinants, and provides new data on SMEs and SME productivity, plus indicators to monitor gender gaps in entrepreneurship.
The Missing Entrepreneurs 2015 is the third edition in a series of OECD annual reports that provide data and policy analysis on inclusive entrepreneurship. The report contains data on the scale and scope of entrepreneurship and self-employment activities across EU Member States by social target groups, as well as the barriers they face.
As leading supporters of Asia-Pacific’s women entrepreneurs, EY and Standard Chartered Bank have come together to explore the hurdles women entrepreneurs in the region are hitting in their growth journeys that prevent them from scaling their businesses globally, and how to help overcome them to accelerate growth.
Gender Lens Investing: A Guide to Roles in the Ecosystem is a report for investors, philanthropists, or those helping to move capital, who want to apply a gender lens to portfolios. It explains the role of each actor in the ecosystem, considering where they sit in the gender lens investment landscape and what you need to know about them as someone who’s interested in moving more capital with a gender lens.
Women, Wealth & Impact: Investing with a Gender Lens is the second edition of Veris Wealth Partners’ white paper highlighting the key benefits of gender lens investing to women and girls as well as investors.
Este documento del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo examina los indicadores y métodos de inclusión financiera de varios países latinoamericanos y presenta recomendaciones para los indicadores de la oferta que los reguladores y los encargados de formular políticas deben recopilar y supervisar.
Mercer’s “When Women Thrive, Businesses Thrive” global report is the most comprehensive look at women in the workplace, covering responses from 583 companies across 42 countries, including data on 3.2 million employees. In this market report, Mercer shares specific data and insights that organizations in the financial services industry can use to map their own journeys to greater gender diversity.
Through the analysis of behavioral data from deep engagements with low-income, economically active women, this report from Omidyar Network includes both rich stories and detailed cash flows over time, offering a more nuanced view of surveyed women’s financial behavior, highlighting key differences from men’s, and uncovering compelling product design recommendations for financial services providers.
This report from the McKinsey Global Institute estimates the size of the economic potential from achieving gender parity and maps gender inequality using 15 indicators of gender equality in 95 countries.
Este informe presenta los últimos descubrimientos sobre “Género en el Sistema Financiero” en Chile . (English version)
The second annual FDIP report from the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings considers 26 countries across four “dimensions” of financial inclusion: country commitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment, and the adoption of traditional and digital financial services. The report’s findings show continuing progress across the global financial inclusion landscape.
This Criterion Institute report tells the history of the field of gender lens investing over the last five years and outlines a roadmap to the future, defining the critical areas of focus for resources and attention.
This report by Oliver Wyman contains a series of articles that discuss a range of gender-related issues in financial services. It draws on statistics concerning female representation within the financial industry.
The EY Global Job Creation Survey 2016 surveyed a record number — nearly 2,700 — of entrepreneurs in 12 major economies. Almost 6 in 10 (59%) respondents expect to increase their workforce in 2016, a leap of more than a quarter year-on-year. It is also twice the proportion of large companies planning to grow headcount, as reported in EY’s recent Capital Confidence Barometer.
Building on considerable research that proves the link between diversity, innovation, and profitability, When Women Thrive leverages Mercer’s extensive experience with thousands of companies around the world to help understand the actual drivers of success in building gender diversity. The study covers 583 organizations in 42 countries, representing 3.2 million employees, including 1.3 million women.
This World Bank report measures and compares gender parity in 173 economies, using data about legal restrictions on women’s entrepreneurship and employment in order to inform policy discussions and promote research on the linkages between the law and women’s economic opportunities.
Bain & Company research has shown that along with “visible and committed leadership,” women believe “creating working models that support men and women with family responsibilities” to be the most important action to overcoming barriers to women’s progression into leadership roles. This report explores the importance of these flexible workplaces for retaining women.
This report from Citi and WENYC is the result of a study to understand the state and needs of women entrepreneurs in New York City. It includes a detailed review of existing literature, an analysis of demographic data and an assessment of current services that support women entrepreneurs.
This working paper from BSR and the ICRW aims to help companies build effective strategies for women’s economic empowerment by applying a holistic and integrated approach: “Holistic” in considering the broader conditions necessary for women’s advancement and “integrated” in leveraging the full set of business assets a company can deploy. This approach builds on a growing body of evidence demonstrating the importance of addressing systemic and structural barriers to gender equality for women to achieve their full economic potential.
