NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

MIX announced today an $825,000, 2-year partnership with MetLife Foundation to promote financial inclusion by providing insight into financial service access in Mexico, Myanmar, Turkey and Vietnam. Through rich data, analytical tools and interactive dashboards, decision makers in these countries will have a powerful new resource to ensure positive social outcomes for the financially underserved.

Over the past decade, a growing number of countries have begun promoting financial inclusion as a national priority by either mandating or challenging financial service providers to cater to the underserved and unbanked. However, a deficiency of data around access to and usage of financial services is slowing progress and measurement. As decision makers (e.g., government officials, policymakers, and financial service providers) seek to both expand and target their efforts, they need data to identify which regions to prioritize for policy intervention, which markets to enter, and which services to offer in those markets.

Launched in 2014, FINclusion Lab is a data analytics platform designed to help users make sense of financial inclusion data through interactive dashboards and maps. “Innovative and effective use of data can really push the boundaries on advancing financial inclusion. We are delighted to partner with MIX, a forward-looking organization, that is standardizing and integrating data points from numerous sources to facilitate insights, business planning and financial inclusion measurement. This will move the industry forward in a very meaningful way,” said Dennis White, President & CEO of MetLife Foundation.