MARKET 04 / GLOBAL EVIDENCE + LOCAL CONTEXT
Turn access to an account into financial resilience, fair prices, and control.
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THE MARKET THESIS
This is the quantity reported by the cited institution. It is context for a question, rather than a forecast of startup revenue.
Each block = 50 million adults
2024 survey; 2025 report
Global; adults aged 15+
Global adults without a financial account, based on the 2024 survey. National survey statistics are not city-level demand estimates.
World Bank16 July 2025; 2024 survey dataVisuals reproduce the cited signal, including its original scope. Rounded unit graphics are reading aids; the displayed figure and source definition govern the claim.
The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 draws on surveys of about 148,000 adults in 141 economies conducted in 2024. Its estimates are nationally representative, not observations of individual cities.World Bank
The World Bank reports 1.3 billion adults still without accounts and substantial gaps in safe digital access. Its release also highlights the need for consumer protection and secure payment infrastructure alongside account access.World Bank
A proposed operating map for financial inclusion. Read the handoffs before choosing a product to build.
Merchants, employers, cooperatives and licensed financial institutions. Separate the end user from the regulated provider and from the organisation paying for software. A regulated partner remains responsible for its own obligations.
Choose one repeat transaction or reconciliation problem. Compare total fees, settlement reliability, complaint handling and time spent. Document who is excluded by identification, language, connectivity or device requirements.
Editorial system map derived from the research brief. The sequence is a framework for discovery, with no claim that a Pheonix programme, customer or pilot is operating.
An impact claim should survive a difficult question. Design the measurement before you design the success story.
Define the people, geography, existing service and time period. Record the full cost before the intervention.
Use the proposed experiment above as a starting question. Agree the local scope, duration, comparison and safeguards before beginning.
Ask what would have happened otherwise. Compare like with like and record how much uncertainty remains.
Total customer cost per successful transaction
Active beneficial use over time
Fraud losses and time to resolve complaints
Ability to meet an unexpected expense without harmful debt
Check who is left out, what the intervention costs and which negative effects would invalidate the claim. Involve the people expected to benefit.
Proposed measurement pathway. No baseline, pilot result, participant count or achieved impact is being reported in this diagram.
WATCH THE TRADEOFF
Credit growth can increase distress rather than inclusion.
Fraud, coercion and weak recourse can erase the benefits of faster payments.
National account-ownership statistics are not city-level demand estimates.
Publication dates and geographic scope are shown for each source. Linked institutions are references, with no affiliation or endorsement implied.
World Bank · 2025; nationally representative 2024 surveys
141 economiesWorld Bank · 16 July 2025; 2024 survey data
Global / developing economiesDigital payment growth creates distribution infrastructure, but transaction activity alone does not prove that small businesses have better financial health. The Bank of Ghana frames oversight and payment risk as continuing priorities.
Proposed wedge: make borrowing terms and repayment obligations understandable for small businesses and workers.
The national wages protection system already supplies monitored salary-payment infrastructure. Receiving a wage digitally does not establish that every worker understands fees, can access support or has an affordable remittance option.
Nigeria's payment-channel data shows substantial electronic activity, but a national channel share does not measure Lagos merchant profitability or inclusion. Reliable reconciliation remains a testable operating need.
Proposed wedge: help eligible people access useful existing banking services before designing another financial product.
Design for financial resilience and accessible support. FCA research identifies unbanked adults, digital exclusion, difficulty accessing products, and limited financial buffers at UK level.
FinAccess makes a distinction between access and the broader financial needs of users. For Nairobi ventures, the test is whether a product improves everyday control over money, including for people using shared or basic phones.
Make existing financial counselling easier to reach. NYC Financial Empowerment Centers provide free confidential counselling to adults who live or work in the city.
Help people use trusted financial support. The City already offers Bank On account-navigation information and free confidential financial counselling; discovery should start with those services.
Build financial resilience around digital payments rather than treating account access as the finished outcome. The central bank's report examines both Pix inclusion and risks such as over-indebtedness and digital insecurity.
Proposed wedge: turn consented financial information into understandable household decisions without pushing unsuitable products.
Proposed wedge: help households use their own banking and energy information to make understandable cost decisions.
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