The intersection of technology and innovation can drive the inclusive growth agenda

Ravi Aurora, Senior VP International Government Affairs at Mastercard, spoke with us during the AFI Global Policy Forum about the current state of financial inclusion. 

How does Mastercard think about financial inclusion in 2024? 

We want to bring everybody into the financial ecosystem. Initially in 2015, we set a target to bring 500 million excluded individuals into the digital economy. We then doubled that target, aiming to financially include one billion people by 2025, and to helping 50 million small businesses, including 25 million women-owned businesses. 

Today, the conversation has evolved. It’s not just about financially including someone, it is about how do you drive inclusive growth? That means not just providing access to financial services, but driving usage – getting people into, then contributing to, the economy. That way, there’s a ripple effect. Inclusive growth has to be sustained, and we’re approaching this through different programs, services and partnerships around the world. 

How is the collaboration with AFI helping here? 

Our partnership with AFI is now ten years old. It has been really phenomenal and very productive, by allowing us to come in and share insights from what we see across our business. Bear in mind, we operate in 210 countries, do business in 150 currencies, have billions of transactions taking place every day. There’s a lot of learning around what’s happening at the intersection of technology and innovation, for example access to credit, new ways to bring innovative solutions to the market, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or central bank digital currencies, and on how these issues relate to financial inclusion and inclusive growth. 

We’re involved in all of it, and through the partnership with AFI we’re able to share and discuss these issues with members, talking through opportunities and challenges. 

What big issues stand out to you from this year’s AFI Global Policy Forum? 

There’s so much happening around the world, but two topics come to mind. The first involves new models to drive access to credit. There is big unmet need for credit, especially among women-owned businesses and women entrepreneurs. How can we leverage transaction-level data, getting away from traditional models of financing, and looking instead at digital history and digital transaction data as a basis for credit decisions? This could really get people moving on the path of upward inclusion and mobility.  

The other big issue is around cybersecurity and trust. As digital continues to grow, whether by virtue of e-commerce or other platforms, and as more and more people start using digital financial services, maintaining trust will be essential – one bad experience is all it takes to sideline someone. 

So how do we build that trust? It will involve collaborating across the ecosystem, and for Mastercard that includes thinking about how we can work with central banks to drive digital financial education. Given the threats from cyber criminals, it’s clear that we have to be working together in partnership.