According to the World Bank, financial inclusion means “individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit, and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.” Fundamentally, the inability to use these financial services can not only contribute to persistent income inequality but also slow economic growth.
 
As many countries experience major advances in digitalization, ensuring a seamless digital customer journey is an important consideration when rolling out a financial inclusivity strategy. Digital payments—such as receiving payments or transfers directly into an account, making payments over a mobile phone or internet, or paying utilities or fees directly from accounts—can all make financial services more accessible, and often at a lower cost for both providers and consumers.
 
Fintech has the potential to be the great equalizer when it comes to financial inclusivity. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to provide safer digital alternatives to in-person banking, such as cashless payments and contactless transactions.

What are the best ways to improve access to and usage of financial products for the underserved?

Country context plays a vital role in selecting the best approach to financial inclusion, but one aspect that is relevant in every country is trust. Whether you're enabling cryptocurrency trading, online investing, or mobile banking, establishing and maintaining trust with your customer base is essential.
 
There are several ways to build trust, but it can be much easier to earn through speaking the customer’s preferred language. This not only provides a much more seamless experience for the customer but also limits the potential for any misunderstandings or miscommunication, which is crucial in a regulated industry such as financial services. 
 
When building a new customer base, improving expansion plans and optimizing your scalability is also key. Different audiences will prefer different methods of communication, and this should be considered when reaching new regions. Financial organizations need to tailor their approach so they are sending the right message through the preferred channel. Ultimately, how companies decide to approach consumers will have a significant impact on successful customer perception. 
 
Another big consideration is accessibility, both on websites and apps. Accessibility is the design practice of making products and services usable by anyone, regardless of disabilities. TransPerfect currently offers a standard accessibility report at no cost to all governments, organizations, and businesses. If you’re interested in receiving this, you can do so here. 
 
Ultimately, if a customer has frictionless customer engagement, trust grows exponentially. Financial institutions should aim to make their experience as seamless and impactful as they can in the end-user’s preferred language.
 
Not sure where to start? We’ve got you. At TransPerfect, we have designed a program that optimizes the use of a financial product or service by leveraging our technology and resources in over 200 languages, helping companies enter into any market. 
 
Services include:

• Mobile and web localization
• On-demand multilingual AI
• Multilingual agent chat
• Secure processing MNPI/PII
• Multilingual KYC accelerator
• Contract extraction
• Accessibility
• Digital marketing services 

TransPerfect has shaped 24/7/365 multilingual consumer journeys for leading fintech organizations around the world. Fintechs are empowering customers to take charge of their finances and providing access to better choices to make financial inclusion a reality. Could your financial inclusivity strategy be stronger? 
 
To learn more about how we are able to support, get in touch with our global team at futurefintech@transperfect.com.