MasterCard CEO says financial inclusion is our generation’s big responsibility

Thursday, March 5, 2015

More than 2.5 billion people in the world don’t have a bank account, meaning they lack access to loans, insurance, and emergency funds.

Ajay Banga, MasterCard’s president and CEO, thinks this is a huge injustice. In his eyes, the responsibility of financial inclusion – that is, the task of creating a truly global economy – rests on our generation’s shoulders and requires collaboration across countries, sectors, and industries.

“Other generations have eradicated disease, invented radio and television and the telephone,” Banga said at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona on Tuesday, March 3. “The opportunity to drive financial inclusion is unique to us and our time.”

But what exactly is financial inclusion, and why does it matter? How has MasterCard helped achieve it, and what has the company learned in the process?

Source: Business Insider (link opens in a new window)

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financial inclusion, mobile finance