A Research and Learning Agenda for the Impact of Financial Inclusion

Over recent years millions of people who had been excluded from formal financial services have gained access to financial accounts. While this is a step forward, low use and inactivity keeps account dormancy rates persistently high. In light of this, the financial inclusion community is renewing its efforts to understand the role financial services play in the lives of poor people and how financial services can improve their well-being.  We are asking the questions: Financial inclusion for what? What should we invest in? What are the promising welfare-enhancing solutions? Which ones should we experiment with? How do we achieve the nuance required to guide financial inclusion policy decisions that enable financial services to add value to poor people’s lives?  This paper proposes a learning agenda based on extensive consultation with donors, researchers, and practitioners who support financial inclusion.