Despite advances in financial inclusion across the globe, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide remain excluded from access to financial services. This restricts their ability to save, to borrow and to protect themselves and their families against hunger, crime and natural disaster. To counteract this, and increase access to and usage of financial services for the poor, many innovative approaches have been adopted — particularly in developing countries. These range from agent banking to delivering financial services through the mobile phone networks. New institutions have been established, new products devised and new technologies harnessed to reach un- or underserved markets. Behind the scenes, changes in legislation and regulation have helped provide the right conditions for innovation to thrive while protecting consumers and the financial system.

The experiences of those countries that have adopted such models are now available to inform future strategies to increase financial inclusion. The G20 Principles for Innovative Financial Inclusion bring those experiences together to produce a set of practical recommendations for policymakers worldwide. They are not rigid requirements, but rather nine valuable insights that together form a set of conditions that spur innovation for financial inclusion while safeguarding financial stability and protecting consumers. The document also includes examples of countries that have followed these principles successfully.