countries, 40% of people who made a digital payment from their account (to a merchant or for a utility service) did so for the very first time since the start of the pandemic. The gender gap in account ownership has also shrunk for the first time, narrowing from 9 to 6 percent in developing countries. Yet, there is still a lot of work to do with roughly 1.7 billion people worldwide who remain unbanked. The demographic shift is another big challenge shaking up our world that FinTechs can help with. With more developed economies’ societies rapidly aging and developing countries facing significant changes in their populations’ age structures, there isn’t a more urgent time than now for governments worldwide to join forces with financial technology companies to bridge the gaps in the provision of financial services and to stabilise economies. While in emerging countries a younger, tech-savvy population rises - one that’s ready to embrace existing challenges by easily adapting to new technological trends and developments, FinTechs are mostly needed to support their hunger for freedom and new discoveries. Upper- middle-income and high-income countries, where effective labor is growing much more slowly, aging is leading to a declining support ratio and the GDP is likely espite the fact that some experts still believe that worldwide digitalisation might carry new risks for the economy and fear the unknown future, I believe that we would be blind not to acknowledge the value of modern financial technological solutions on our journey to tackle these three challenges. Inclusivity and equality are fundamental cornerstones for a thriving economy and FinTech companies have designed a bridge so that we can reach them sooner. Thanks to new innovative financial solutions emerging, developing markets can overcome existing financial inclusion obstacles like distance, documentation, and lack of funds, and create a world of equal opportunities for their populations. By working together with FinTech companies, governments can influence and significantly diminish the percentage of unbanked people, essentially making the first but very important step towards solving existential issues such as economic growth, employment, poverty, and income equality in both developed and developing countries. We can already see signs of these changes. According to the Global Findex Survey in 2021 after the massive digitalisation caused by the pandemic, two-thirds of adults worldwide now make or receive a digital payment. In developing 2/3 of adults worldwide now make or receive a digital payment 40% of people who made a digital payment from their account (to a merchant or for a utility service) did so for the very first time since the start of the pandemic 9-6% The gender gap in account ownership has also shrunk for the first time, narrowing from in developing countries 1.7 b people worldwide who remain unbanked Roughly there are F i nanc i a l Innov a t i on & F i nTech 36 Finance Monthly.
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