The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) is housed within Accion, a non-profit that is on a mission to create a fair and inclusive economy. Since its founding over 60 years ago, Accion has helped build 285 financial service providers operating across 77 countries. The Center for Financial Inclusion is focused on conducting research, piloting innovative solutions and convening the industry in different ways.  

With research, CFI was among the first in the inclusive finance sector to conduct research on algorithmic biases and how they impact low-income households and vulnerable groups. We were also one of the first to raise the risks with deceptive designs and the risks they pose to vulnerable consumer groups. We also research evidence gaps in different markets in the implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure, taking a uniquely consumer/end user centric view to our research, which helps policymakers and decision makers. CFI also developed in the green inclusive finance framework that outlines the various pathways that low-income households can use to cope with climate change; this has become one of our most downloaded papers over the past few years.  

As a part of piloting innovative solutions, CFI recently completed research with a lender in Kenya to test the use of positive friction, i.e. friction that is strategically introduced in the consumer journey as a way to improve repayment rates among vulnerable consumers, improve their understanding of terms and conditions and improve transparency in the digital lending journey.  

CFI has had a history of convening the sector in different ways to address consumer protection risks. Between 2009 and 2021, CFI was responsible in creating and leading the Smart Campaign, which translated consumer protection principles into action and was adopted extensively by impact investors. In 2021, this was handed over to the Social Performance Task Force to continue training financial service providers and investors in the sector. CFI has since shifted its convening focus to two strategic events- Financial Inclusion Week, which brings together leading thinkers, practitioners and researchers in the sector in a virtual event every fall, and the Responsible Finance Forum, which convenes regulators and policymakers globally in an annual event. Our convening strategy focuses on presenting evidence, best practices and encouraging dialogue between regulators, policymakers, practitioners, investors and consumer advocates on key topics that can affect the resilience of financial systems and their ability to meet the needs of low-income consumers globally.