Designing Payments for Financial Inclusion
At the ‘Supporting UK Growth through Financial Inclusion’ showcase event– hosted by David Burton-Sampson MP, who has placed financial inclusion firmly on his list of policy priorities– the focus was on action.
What will it take to ensure that future payments innovations continues to work well for everyone? Surrounded by stalls of innovators showcasing the payments products and services that are already making a difference in financial inclusion, it was clear that this question is on many people's minds, and action isn’t just being talked about, it’s happening.
Financial Inclusion Commissioner Pooja Bhachu (Director, Government Affairs and Policy, Mastercard, UK&I) set out a clear vision during the event: the challenge is not persuading people why inclusion matters, but working to make it happen.
“Financial inclusion isn’t a buzzword. It’s essential to creating a fairer, more resilient society.” – Pooja Bhachu
Who gets left behind?
Around 1.2 million adults in the UK remain unbanked, and millions more are classed as financially vulnerable. Many women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, many elderly people, and those in rural communities are still most at risk of digital and financial exclusion.
Financial exclusion is no longer simply about having or not having access to a bank account. It also includes being able to access appropriate financial services, including access to affordable credit, easy and accessible ways to save, or the ability to make and receive everyday payments independently. This has real consequences – limiting not only individual opportunity but also economic growth that’s inclusive.
“It’s about ensuring everyone has access to the right financial tools and services so they can build their capabilities resilience and financial mobility.” – Pooja Bhachu
Innovation as part of the solution
The event showcased the many innovators in the payments space developing solutions to help people have access to these financial services. Their work illustrates Pooja’s central point: financial inclusion is possible, but only if it is built into new innovations from the get go.
Wearable technology from Money Carer offers payment devices that allow disabled people and those with fluctuating capacity to manage everyday transactions independently. Vouchsafe has created biometric and “vouching” systems that help people without conventional ID gain secure access to financial services – tackling what has been called “identity poverty.”
For families on low incomes, Fair for You is demonstrating that affordable, responsible credit is not only possible but sustainable, offering 0% interest loans with flexible repayment.
Meanwhile, Dosh has designed a new prepaid card account with accessible onboarding and user-friendly tools for those in temporary accommodation or without fixed addresses.
The accessibility expertise of Hassell Inclusion reinforces that digital systems must be designed to be usable by everyone, while Sumsub is showing that compliance checks can be streamlined to remove unnecessary barriers without compromising safety.
"What I took away from the showcase was how each of vendor is one piece of the jigsaw for better financial inclusion - from better user experiences, better tools, better financial products, and all giving a safer environment to be wise with money" – Peter Bricknell, Chief Product Officer, Hassell Inclusion.
Each of these innovations is tackling a different part of the problem – identity, affordability, usability, accessibility – but together they illustrate what is achievable when inclusion is treated as a design principle rather than an afterthought.
“Innovation must be designed with inclusion in mind.”– Pooja Bhachu
A moment of opportunity
The UK is at a turning point. The National Financial Inclusion Strategy and the National Payments Vision together can create a framework for long-term change. If inclusion is embedded into these initiatives, the benefits will be profound.
“With the right design, the next generation of account-to-account payments could unlock £9 billion in economic growth as a platform for new and improved payment services.” – Pooja Bhachu
Our own research at the Financial Inclusion Commission reinforces this. Making financial systems more inclusive does not just improve outcomes for individuals – it expands markets, fuels innovation, and strengthens the wider economy. You can find the economic and the business case for unlocking inclusive innovation which we’ve set out in our research report conducted with the University of Birmingham’s CHASM team.
But none of this can be delivered by innovators alone. It requires joined-up commitment from industry, regulators and policymakers. Without this alignment, progress risks reinforcing the very barriers it seeks to break down.
“Financial inclusion will only happen if industry, regulators and policymakers work together and make it a top priority.” – Pooja Bhachu
Looking ahead
Financial inclusion is not theoretical. It is about whether people can buy food securely, borrow responsibly in a crisis, or save for the future. But it is also about the bigger picture. When more people are able to participate in the financial system, businesses gain new customers, innovation has a wider reach, and the economy grows stronger.
The Financial Inclusion Commission will continue to champion these approaches. To explore the economic and business case in more detail, we urge policymakers, businesses and innovators to read our latest reports and join us in making inclusion by design the standard for the UK’s financial future.
