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Developed nations contemplating issuing CBDCs are apparently doing so primarily for financial stability and monetary policy reasons. However, a stronger case can arguably be made for the issuance of CBDC in developing economies. According to Jean-Michel Godeffroy, Chairman of the Central Bank Payments Conference and former Director General of Payment Systems and Market Infrastructure at the European Central Bank, 'in many developing countries there is insufficient competition between banks, as well as a very loose network of bank branches and little or no deposit insurance. The business case of CBDC in developing countries is probably stronger than in most developed countries; in these parts of the world, the issuance of CBDC in parallel to banknotes could enhance economic growth and financial inclusion'.

The new MoCaFi Mobility Bank Account comes with the MoCaFi Mobility Debit Mastercard® which provides access no charge ATM withdrawals and options on how to load your funds. The MoCaFi Debit Card can be used at any of the 55,000 AllPoint Network ATMs to withdraw cash with no surcharge fee. The MoCaFi Debit Card is issued by Sunrise Banks N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated. The card may be used everywhere Debit Mastercard is accepted. A MoCaFi Bank Account can be opened in minutes with the MoCaFi app, available in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. When a MoCaFi account is opened, the customer immediately receives their account number and routing number for direct depositing approved payroll and government benefits checks.

Good4Trust.org is a movement driven by common values and concerns for the planet and humanity. It consists of an online platform that promotes fair and ethical trade through its online market, while aiming to create online communities where trust, transparency, justice and peace are the currencies.

The KYC/AML requirements of the VASPs would largely block off the potential inclusion of the 1.7+ billion who are already unbanked, creating simply a new digital version of the exclusive system we have now. Unhosted wallets could help solve this problem by catering to refugees, small-holder farmers and other vulnerable populations around the world by facilitating smaller transaction amounts and account balances; activities consistent with the financial reality in many of the places where we work.

Concerns over the unbanked, fintech, and a government participation in the payment system were all present back in England in the 1880s.

This Kansas City Fed paper finds that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could alleviate some of concerns facing unbanked American households. However, whether most unbanked households would view a CBDC any differently than a bank account remains to be seen. If some unbanked households see no distinction between the two, then a CBDC may not be able to reach those who wish to remain outside of the financial system. To overcome this challenge, policymakers may need to further consider whether to differentiate CBDC access from other digital products offered today and provide corresponding financial education.

The adoption of digital money has tangible benefits for governments, businesses and consumers alike. To understand these opportunities, Citi and Imperial College London developed a Digital Money Index six years ago to track the development of digital money readiness across 84 countries. It measures readiness across four pillars; supportiveness of institutional environment, financial and ICT infrastructure, digital money solutions from government and private sector, and enthusiasm from consumers and businesses.

The Government of Ghana is seeking to harness the benefits of a shift from cash to digital payments by developing a national inclusive digital payments ecosystem where everyone can make - and receive - payments digitally. A Digital Payments Roadmap has been drawn up by the Ministry of Finance with support from the Better Than Cash Alliance.

Technology is changing the landscape of the financial sector, increasing access to financial services in profound ways. These changes have been in motion for several years, affecting nearly all countries in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has created new opportunities for digital financial services to accelerate and enhance financial inclusion, amid social distancing and containment measures. At the same time, the risks emerging prior to COVID-19, as digital financial services developed, are becoming even more relevant.

This Kansas City Fed note discusses the challenges of designing CBDC to achieve financial inclusion in the United States. For example, CBDC that requires a smartphone or internet connection may only reach about half of the unbanked U.S. population. Also, the tension over technology choices could lead to neither financial inclusion nor cross-border usage being fulfilled by a CBDC. Finally, CBDC has been discussed as a possible mechanism for setting negative policy rates, but that would require abolishing cash, anathema to CBDC designed for financial inclusion.

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) published its Affordability Report - an in-depth annual research initiative that represents part of A4AI's ongoing efforts to measure policy progress toward affordable internet. It calls for governments to develop effective national broadband plans to make internet access more affordable and enable more people to connect. It focuses on three steps to success when it comes to broadband plans: open consultations, clear targets, and committed funding.

There are now more than 3.8 billion mobile internet subscribers globally, representing 49% of the world's population. However, adoption has not been equitable, with mobile internet adoption standing at 26% in Sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2019. The region accounts for almost half of the global population not covered by a mobile broadband network.

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and World Bank published a report on payment aspects of financial inclusion. It provides tools for helping national authorities undertake diagnostic studies and to measure and track progress in enhancing access to, and use of, transaction accounts. The tools allow comparisons with international benchmarks and/or with a jurisdiction's own situation over time, and make it easier to follow reform efforts in the area of financial inclusion from a payments perspective. The CPMI and the World Bank note that these tools are dynamic and will evolve and/or need to be updated over time to accommodate new emerging market practices and other relevant innovations.

In February 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) launched a new project to study and mitigate the unintended consequences resulting from the incorrect implementation of the FATF Standards. The project focuses on four main areas: de-risking; financial exclusion; undue targeting of non-profit organizations (NPOs); and curtailment of human rights. In October the FATF published a high-level synopsis of The a stocktake, that consolidates previous analysis of these phenomena by FATF and other stakeholders, including expert bodies, in order to identify and understand to what extent, and in what manner, these unintended consequences are occurring. During the next phase of this project, the FATF will identify and consider potential options to mitigate these unintended consequences.

A new World Economic Forum white paper investigates the benefits and limitations of stablecoins for supporting financial inclusion in historically excluded or underserved populations. It concludes that, overall, stablecoins do not present features or capabilities that significantly reduce barriers to financial inclusion compared to pre-existing options, once accounting for consistent legal and compliance requirements. Stablecoins are subject to many of the same adoption and inclusion hurdles as other forms of retail finance, such as reliable internet and electricity, digital and financial literacy, and government identity documentation.

Bank for International Settlements staff, using a dataset of around half a million Chinese firms that use the AliPay QR code-based mobile payment system, found that (i) the creation of a digital payment footprint allows firms to access credit provided by the same big tech company; (ii) transaction data generated via QR code generate spillover effects on access to bank credit; and (iii) there are positive effects of access to big tech credit on sales, including during the Covid-19 shock. The findings suggest that access to innovative payment methods helps micro firms build up credit history, and that using big tech credit can ease access to bank credit.

The IMF published a paper on a step-by-step framework to help assess central bank digital currency's (CBDC's) value proposition for improving financial inclusion. The impact of CBDC for improving financial inclusion is currently speculative, where further evidence and experience are needed to fully understand benefits and limitations. That said, it provides an opportunity that could be actively explored alongside other solutions for improving financial inclusion. Moreover, CBDC could be considered as one component of a broader set of measures to improve financial inclusion.

The Bank of Canada published a paper that explores quantitative and qualitative information about Canadians who face barriers to making digital payments, and implications for a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC). It identified three types of inclusion necessary for a universally accessible payment method: financial inclusion, digital inclusion and practical accessibility. The challenge is in the delivery of services rather than product design, and private financial institutions may not be incentivized to address the needs of those who are underserved. However, overcoming those challenges will require central banks to face problems that would otherwise be considered far from their scope of interest. https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2023/10/staff-discussion-paper-2023-22/

Government COVID-related relief payments contributed to a drop in the number of unbanked households in the U.S. in 2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Roughly 1.2 million more households are banked, compared with 2019 figures, with nearly half of newly banked households that received pandemic relief payments saying the payments contributed to their decision to open a bank account. But still an estimated 4.5% of Americans, representing 5.9 million households, lacked a bank or credit union account in 2021. https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2022/pr22075.html

"The stakes for redesigning access to money are high. As such, many exciting areas remain for future research, including socio-technical and user research; systems design, security and privacy; and research on the economics of CBDC compared to existing solutions. In exploring these topics, we must always ask ourselves whether new financial technologies increase the self-determination and agency of the poor and vulnerable. In order to achieve a public interest benefit from money technologies, we must achieve inclusion as well as other dimensions of the public good." (This is a summary of the recent MIT survey-based paper on CBDC and financial inclusion.)