e-MFP publishes Financial Inclusion Compass 2024, with new questions – and a growing divergence in perspective

e-MFP is pleased to publish today the Financial Inclusion Compass 2024, the seventh in an annual series that takes the ‘pulse’ of the sector, asking financial providers, funders, TA providers, researchers and others to assess (and comment on) a variety of current financial inclusion trends, to say which future priority areas they would like to see attention devoted to in the future, and give open-ended input on the direction of financial inclusion progress – and the pitfalls ahead.

Each year the survey changes somewhat. There are new trends or priority areas added, merged, split or replaced, and different qualitative questions. This is true this year, and as well as a new section on perceived weaknesses in client protection standards, there were other new entries: fraud against customers (which elicited some striking results), biodiversity conservation, and the ‘missed opportunities’ of the past, among others. Moreover, there is a final question that asked what ‘microfinance’ and ‘financial inclusion’ even mean today: has one been subsumed by the other, or is there still a meaningful difference in their scope, with one complementary to the other? Or indeed, is financial inclusion just an ‘empty rebrand’?

There were 149 responses to the survey, from a record 63 countries, and with a record representation of financial service providers – who continue to diverge from other respondent groups in how they perceive many important issues. This, more than anything, is the theme of this year’s Compass, and surely has implications for all stakeholders in how they prioritise, promote, fund, or researcher different areas of financial inclusion.

Thank you to all the respondents, we depend on your contribution for the Compass to be the resource it is.

You can download the Financial Inclusion Compass 2024 in English here

And the Executive Summary is also available in Spanish or French

Watch the recording of the e-MFP & FinDev Gateway joint webinar 'Paths (and Potholes) Ahead: Findings and themes in the e-MFP Financial Inclusion Compass 2024'