Innovative technology solutions have the potential to address the financial needs of people living with disabilities(PWDs) across the
The study, Bridging the Disability Gap: An Opportunity to Make a Positive Impact, reveals that digital inclusion is the pathway to financial inclusion for persons with disabilities.
As governments adopt and prioritize policies to improve accessibility of services, this paves the way for public and private sector financial institutions, mobile network operators (MNO), fintech providers, and other organizations to develop and apply solutions.
According to the latest available data, one billion people, or 15 per cent of the world's population, experience some form of disability, constituting the largest minority group in the world.
A combination of physical constraints in accessing financial institutions and services prevents many persons with disabilities from banking independently.
Depending on the type of disability, this includes being unable to travel to and enter a financial institution, branch, or ATM, not perceiving and understanding what is written on paper or electronic devices, being unable to hear, understand, and communicate with banking service providers, and being unable to access paper or digital content.
A 2019
However, measures are being taken to address this, at the government and corporate levels.
The
The bank's Disability Friendly Branch project, implemented in 2016, aims to facilitate and ease the banking experience. The three-phase transformation integrates infrastructure, technology, and services to enable and enhance accessibility.
According to the
Approximately 63 per cent of the world's population is now online since the pandemic.
Research in select low- and middle-income countries in the
The emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution - such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and the internet of things - have the potential to be delivered through apps and web-enabled services. This makes it possible to address the accessibility gap in financial services, said
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