How Technology Is Finally Banking the Unbanked: A 2025 Guide to Real Financial Inclusion

financial inclusion mobile banking AI credit scoring blockchain DeFi unbanked adults fintech 2025 digital wallets
August 14, 2025
6 min read
By Cojocaru David & ChatGPT

Table of Contents

This is a list of all the sections in this post. Click on any of them to jump to that section.

How Technology Is Finally Banking the Unbanked: A 2025 Guide to Real Financial Inclusion

Imagine waking up tomorrow with no bank account, no credit score, and no way to save the $50 your cousin just sent you from overseas. Sounds stressful, right? Well, that’s daily life for 1.7 billion adults around the world in 2025.

Here’s the twist. Most of them do own a cheap smartphone. And that tiny rectangle in their pocket is becoming their branch, wallet, and loan officer all at once. So today, let’s talk about how technology drives financial inclusion and where the gaps still trip people up.

What Financial Inclusion Really Means (Spoiler: It’s Not Just a Bank Account)

Let’s cut to the chase. Financial inclusion means everyone rich or poor, urban or village can:

  • safely store money
  • get paid without crazy fees
  • borrow at fair rates
  • build credit and climb the economic ladder

A bank card is nice, but what matters is access to the system. And tech is the cheapest ticket in.

Quick Stats That Might Surprise You

  • 73 % of unbanked adults have a mobile signal.
  • **$12 ** average cost of a basic Android phone in Kenya.
  • $6 billion global savings on remittance fees since 2022 thanks to fintech.

1. Mobile Banking & Digital Wallets: Banking Without Branches

Remember the last time you visited a physical bank? Yeah, me neither. Now picture a small shopkeeper in rural Uganda topping up stock with a tap on her Nokia C30. No branch. No paperwork. Just M-Pesa or Wave.

Why Mobile Money Works

  • Zero branches needed - Cash in/out happens at corner shops.
  • 24/7 service - Midnight emergency? Sorted.
  • Micro-fees - Sending $5 costs less than a bottle of soda.

Real-life example

My friend Aisha sells spices in Lagos. She used to hide cash under her mattress. Last year she switched to Paga wallet. Now her supplier in Kano gets paid before the bus leaves, and she earns tiny interest on whatever’s left at night.

Pro tip: Ask your local fintech what their cash-out fee is. Anything above 2 % is daylight robbery.

2. Blockchain & DeFi: Sending Money Like Email

Let’s be real Western Union’s cut can feel like donating a kidney. Blockchain slashes that fee to pennies.

How DeFi Helps the Little Guy

  • Stablecoin remittances - Send 100, receive 99.97.
  • Smart contract loans - No human banker, no bias.
  • Global savings accounts - Earn 5 % interest instead of hiding cash in a tin.

Story time

I once watched my cousin in Toronto send 200 CAD** to our grandma in Manila. Traditional remittance? **23 fee, 3 days. Using a stablecoin wallet? $0.60 fee, 10 minutes. Grandma still thinks it’s witchcraft.

Quick checklist before you try DeFi:

  • Pick a wallet with insurance on deposits.
  • Stick to USD-pegged coins if you hate volatility.
  • Always test with $1 first. Trust, but verify.

3. AI Credit Scoring: Lending to People with No History

Old-school banks ask for three payslips and a tax return. That’s cute if you have a formal job. AI looks at phone top-ups, utility bills, even how fast you scroll to decide if you’re trustworthy.

What AI Sees That Humans Miss

  • Regular airtime purchases - Shows steady income.
  • Utility payment streak - Better than a 750 FICO.
  • Social graph - Your friends pay loans? Good sign for you.

Example

Tala, a Kenyan app, lent $10 million last quarter to users with zero credit file. Average default rate? Under 6 %. That’s lower than some US credit cards.

Action step: If you’re building a fintech, plug into alternative data APIs like Cignifi or LenddoEFL. You’ll approve 40 % more first-time borrowers.

4. Biometrics & IoT: The Next Wave

Picture walking into a store, picking up rice, and paying with a thumbprint. No phone, no cash, no problem.

Cool Stuff Around the Corner

  • Fingerprint POS terminals - Already live in India.
  • Smart fridges that order lentils on credit when supplies run low.
  • Voice banking for visually impaired users Alexa meets micro-savings.

Reality check: These tools need cheap internet and clear privacy laws. Without both, they’re just expensive toys.

5. The Real Roadblocks (And How We Fix Them)

Let’s not sugar-coat it. Tech alone doesn’t end poverty. Some bumps still hurt.

Top 3 Challenges

  1. Digital literacy gaps - 38 % of unbanked women don’t know how to install an app.
    Fix: Free 5-minute video tutorials at corner stores.

  2. Shaky internet - 3G towers still drop in monsoon season.
    Fix: Solar-powered mesh networks (looking at you, BRCK).

  3. Regulatory ping-pong - One country bans crypto, the next embraces it.
    Fix: Sandboxes where startups test under relaxed rules for 12 months.

What You Can Do Today

  • If you’re a founder: Build offline-first features. Cache data until signal returns.
  • If you’re an investor: Fund female-focused fintechs. They reach untapped markets.
  • If you’re a policymaker: Copy India’s UPI playbook open rails, low fees, massive scale.

Your 3-Minute Action Plan

  1. Download one new wallet you’ve never tried. Send $1 to a friend. Notice the UX pain points then fix them.
  2. Ask your bank for their financial inclusion stats. If they stare blankly, switch banks.
  3. Share this article with a cousin who still queues for hours to pay bills. Yes, that cousin.

Key Takeaways (Because TL;DR Is Real)

  • Mobile wallets already bank more people than bricks ever did.
  • Blockchain & AI cut costs and bias if regulators stay sane.
  • Biometrics & IoT are next, but only with cheap data and basic training.
  • You builder, investor, or user can speed things up today.

“Technology is best when it brings people together, not when it leaves them behind.” loosely inspired by Matt Mullenweg

#FinancialInclusion #Fintech2025 #BankingTheUnbanked