Powering a Billion Dreams

Come the year 2030 and the world would be completely rid of poverty. Set as the first of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2015, SDG 1.3 further projects that 100% financial inclusion too shall be achieved by 2030. Despite trillions of dollars flowing through the financial system on a yearly basis and billions of dollars being invested to financially include excluded people, the efforts have remained handicapped, among other things, by the lack of such a definition that elaborates on what exactly is meant by being financially included. Unlike literacy, financial inclusion is a two-way street. People can slip in and out depending on the extraneous circumstances and also how the term is defined. Thus, no one can put an accurate count on the number of mutually exclusive financially included people worldwide as at this moment. Undoubtedly, sustained financial inclusion is critical to empowering people across the world to realize their dreams. Given this, it is imperative to dispassionately evaluate the obstacles to this dynamic construct and address these so as to facilitate the effective functioning of financial systems worldwide-only this can guarantee 100% financial inclusion by 2030. With three decades of multi-country experience in the financial sector behind him, Ramesh S Arunachalam is uniquely placed to draw lessons from the recent financial crises that have plagued world economies and identify key factors that have contributed to impeding efforts to achieve the goal of universal financial inclusion. In this seminal work, he outlines practical remedial strategies with regard to these factors and highlights the role of innovations like FinTech and Blockchains that can help further the cause of 100% sustained financial inclusion. In Powering A Billion Dreams, the author also provides a clear framework to develop a tracking methodology whereby the numbers of financially included can be measured globally and on an anywhere, anytime basis. A global financial inclusion ticker could prove critical in achieving SDG 1.3 and ensuring that billion or more people across the world do not give up on their dreams for want of access to need-based, affordable, nonsubsidized and quality financial services delivered in a transparent and accountable manner.