Financial Inclusion for All: How Cross-Border Payments Are Bridging the Gap in Emerging Economies

Financial inclusion, defined as providing access to useful and affordable financial products and services to all individuals and businesses, has become a key priority for emerging economies around the world. Recent estimates indicate that nearly 2 billion working-age adults globally lack access to formal financial services. The majority of financially excluded individuals reside in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East – regions that contain most of the world’s developing economies. Lack of financial inclusion impacts both individuals and countries. On an individual level, not having access to banking, credit, insurance and other financial services makes it difficult to…...