G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion publishes outcomes from Pretoria side event on shifting financial inclusion from access to usage

The G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) published an event narrative and supporting materials from its side event “Moving the needle – Advancing financial inclusion, from access to usage”, held on 26 March 2025 alongside the GPFI Plenary Meeting in Pretoria. The discussions centred on Africa and on reframing financial inclusion from account access to active usage that improves livelihoods and financial health. The event explored three themes: modernising digital public infrastructure and payment systems to increase usage, measuring inclusion with a gender lens, and customer protection in digital finance. The narrative highlighted FinScope evidence of declining financial health and food security resilience despite increased formal account ownership, signalling a need for more relevant products, stronger financial and digital capability, and better execution of existing frameworks. It also underscored digital identification and inclusive payment systems as foundational enablers, citing 850 million people without official ID and a gender gap in low-income countries where 44% of women and 28% of men lack formal ID, alongside an estimate that digital ID could unlock value equivalent to up to 13% of GDP by 2030. Gender-disaggregated tracking was positioned as essential, noting women are 6% less likely than men to have a formal bank account but are over 30% more likely to have inactive accounts, while stronger consumer protection and provider accountability were framed as prerequisites for building trust and sustained usage. The GPFI also made the presentations, a consolidated summary of the conversations and conclusions, and a conference replay available.