The Centre for Impact Investing and Practices, in collaboration with the United Nations Capital Development Fund and Helicap, supported by 60 Decibels, developed this report on financial inclusion with the following objectives:

Provide an overview of financial inclusion in Southeast Asia post COVID-19

Paint today’s competitive landscape and compare business models of key actors today, namely credit providers such as Traditional financial services providers (FSPs) and digital financial services (DFS) providers

Highlight best practices among FSPs innovating to achieve positive impact incomes for the unserved and underserved while remaining commercially viable

Share deep customer-level insights into the impact of credit

Indicate potential areas to expand reach and improve impact

This study covers Southeast Asia as a region, with particular focus on Cambodia, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Vietnam. It shares insights from interviews with FSPs, investors, and industry associations, enterprise-level business and loan book data, and a customer survey with over 6,500 customers across the region. 

Financial Inclusion: Paving the Way to a Sustainable Future

In total, 60 organisations contributed their time and energy to our study. Between October 2022 and May 2023, we conducted 50 industry interviews, collected enterprise data (enterprise survey and anonymised loan data) from 27 FSPs, and surveyed over 6,500 end-customers of 28 FSPs across Southeast Asia. 

This study offers clear indications of the promising investment opportunities and most successful business models and practices to accelerate positive impact for underserved customers through access to credit. Southeast Asia continues to be well-positioned to make strides in financial inclusion. Moving ahead, we look forward to working with our stakeholders to drive the sector forward, together.