Financial inclusion has become a hot topic in recent years, especially with the advent of mobile banking and its potential to reduce the gender gap in access to finance. Women produce more than half of the world’s food and control about $20 trillion in consumer spending. Women also own one-third of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are top drivers of job creation in emerging markets, although evidence suggests that only 6 percent of the SME banking portfolio is allocated to women. Overall, women face a global credit gap of somewhere between $260 and $320 billion. And according to the World Bank Group’s Global Financial Development Report 2014: Financial Inclusion, women in developing economies are 20 percent less likely than men to have a bank account. Without financial access, women are at a disadvantage when it comes to growing their businesses, which in turn denies economies jobs and tax revenue.
