The Fintech Industry: A Powerhouse for Inclusive Financial Services and Sustainable Products

Nearly two decades after the 2008 global financial crisis, the financial market has witnessed a surge in technology and innovation. This has led to a rise in inclusive financial product and service offerings, mainly driven by the evolution of the fintech industry.

The intersection of finance and technology plays a vital role in advancing financial inclusion and sustainability by integrating unbanked and underbanked customers into the financial system. Through innovative financial instruments and sustainable solutions, it helps narrow gaps in access to finance, particularly for women and low-income customer segments, reaching last-mile populations that are often underserved by the traditional financial sector.

However, this industry is far from monolithic, and its continuous development is reshaping market dynamics and changing how consumers interact with digital financial services across the globe.

Fintech as a Conduit to Reach the Underserved Customers

The digital economy is widely regarded as a key to financial inclusion. Despite increasing digital accessibility across the globe, there is still a large gap remaining in financial health and connectivity, as shown recently by Global Findex data from 2024.

Source: The World Bank Group. Global Findex (2025) 

 

In recent years, low- and lower-middle-income countries marked improvements in some financial access indicators, such as account ownership and digital payments, driven partly by the rise of fintech firms and their innovative services and products. Additionally, there has been an increase in account ownership, smartphone ownership and internet usage, key components for accessing digital financial services and performing digital payments. Together, these further improve the financial health of individuals, resulting in more savings and reduced reliance in borrowing.

Financial Inclusion: The Backbone of Fintech Business Growth in EMDEs

Enhancing financial inclusion has become a core focus of fintech firms. This is backed by data from the latest Future of Global Fintech (2025) study by the WEF and Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), where more than 240 firms were surveyed, which shows a consistent positive customer growth. Even more importantly, how those underserved customers are the key to the success of those organisations. As shown in the graphic below, fintechs’ business performance in both advanced economies (AEs) and emerging market and advanced economies (EMDEs) is strongly influenced by underserved customer segments that make up the majority of their customer base, highlighting the importance of MSMEs, women, low-income, and rural/remotely located customers for their revenue and business profitability.

Source: CCAF & WEF. Future of Global Fintech: From Rapid Expansion to Sustainable Growth (2025) 

 

Equally important are rural, young, and senior customers, demonstrating how inclusive this industry can be in emerging markets. Fintech firms significantly tailor their products and offerings to those customers.

Source: CCAF & WEF. Future of Global Fintech: From Rapid Expansion to Sustainable Growth (2025) 

Additionally, the first edition of the ‘Future of Global Fintech’ (2024) study provided a deep dive into the type of inclusive and sustainable products fintechs are offering. As highlighted in the chart below, fintechs in EMDEs were more inclusive than their counterparts in AEs, with more focus on ‘micro’ products and lowering transaction costs, emphasising the importance of mobile phones, social media, and financial literacy in order to make their products more accessible and affordable.

Source: CCAF & WEF. Future of Global Fintech: Towards Resilient and Inclusive Growth (2024) 

Supporting Digital Finance Development Through a Positive Regulatory Environment and Investing in The Digital Public Infrastructure to Increase Financial Inclusion, Sustainability, and Innovation

An enabling business environment is crucial for the development of the fintech industry. The latest ‘Future of Global Fintech’ (2025) shows that 65% of fintech firms found the regulatory environment adequate for their operations. For instance, most fintechs reported a supporting regulatory environment (69%), aligned with inclusive and interoperable digital public infrastructures (58%), digital and financial literacy of users (70%), and the funding environment (57%) are crucial in supporting their business development.

Another important enabling aspect is partnerships. Around 84% of surveyed fintech companies have some form of partnership with incumbent financial institutions, especially in API integrations and technology exchange. Technology is deeply rooted in the fintech business, and it could not be different in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, which is at the forefront of innovation in the industry, with an impressive 80% of fintechs implementing AI solutions across diverse business domains, with almost half having AI deployed in four to five application areas.

A healthy business environment is the engine for more sustainable and inclusive financial services, encouraging competitive innovation in the financial industry. Fintechs expressed their views on the main developments in the industry in the next five years. Although, sustainable and green finance was deemed as one of the least important developments in the coming years, the rise of AI in finance, which is by far the main focus, along with Open Banking and Open Finance frameworks, regional interoperability, embedded finance, and other technological developments, such as big data and cloud solutions and blockchain will naturally create momentum for increasingly sustainable financial development.

To conclude, the fintech industry has the potential to be transformative through inclusive and sustainable products and services, transforming access for underserved populations and reshaping the dynamics in both emerging and advanced economies. With AI, improved digital infrastructure, and digital accessibility through mobile and internet connectivity, the industry can promote an equitable and sustainable economic development.

 

By Felipe Ferri Paes
Research Associate at Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF)
Digital Frontiers Institute Community Member

 

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