Digital Finance: The Consumer Experience, 2023

Digital financial services are enabling more consumers to access financial services and are fundamentally changing the way in which consumers engage with financial service providers. This can increase convenience and reduce costs for consumers. However, digitalization also brings new and heightened risks for consumers. Protecting consumers against risk and making market practices more consumer-centric are imperative in the quest for fair digital finance. For digital finance to be fair, it must be inclusive, safe, data protected and private, and sustainable.

This report develops a fair digital finance index for low and middle-income Accelerator (a group of associations trained to represent the collective consumer voice in fair digital finance) member countries. The index is centered on a baseline survey conducted by the Accelerator, amplified through publicly available datasets. It is set apart from other indices in the financial consumer protection spheres by the breadth of the framework that it covers, as well as the unique consumer outcome vantage point that forms the basis for how the index is compiled. The findings will allow the Accelerator to monitor progress over time and to pinpoint key topics to engage on.