Since 2020 we’ve lived through a historic threat to widespread financial security. The pandemic reminded us how the poorest people tend to suffer most from a public health crisis and economic disruption.
This year we see how geopolitical shocks can distort global markets and reshape the entire economic outlook. High energy costs and rising inflation also disproportionately affect the financially vulnerable.
Yet this crisis also has rallied and refocused us. Remember, we had been making progress and can do so again. Global poverty rates were cut by more than half in the first two decades of the 21st century (and could have been cut even more if not for slow income growth in select countries). In the last two years, government relief programs responded swiftly to the pandemic—including economic lifelines that kept small businesses open and workers employed while saving money.
Tracking how well people are protected financially against such volatility can be elusive at best. Yet we know that broader access to financial security can foster a better world if we do the hard work of making access sustainable.
By collaborating to amplify, index, and clarify the data we can inspire action with lasting results.
All this makes financial inclusion the cause of our time. That means providing access to effective and affordable financial resources—education, advice, products, and solutions—to help people balance immediate needs with saving and investing for the future.
This conference, with its theme of celebrating the power of connection, is an apt moment to rise to the occasion. But to advocate effectively for financial inclusion, we must first connect the data points that help us define it, quantify it, and study it in detail.
A fuller statistical portrait of financial inclusion can spotlight the basic needs of everyday life that affect the stability of all our systems—politics, health, food, ecology, transportation, and many more. It can also show us where to focus our efforts.
Some of the ways we can measure financial inclusion:
Cost-of-living crisis: On average, less than half the population of the 38 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are satisfied with the availability of affordable housing in their area.
Growing wealth and income gap: The share of the world’s workers living in extreme poverty (6.6 percent) is expected to persist and reach 7 percent by 2030, exacerbated by the pandemic.
Aging population: The share of the world’s population over age 60 is expected to reach 22 percent by 2050—more than doubling in 35 years. This adds urgency to how well we fortify retirement and pension systems, or reconsider the link between economic growth and population growth.
Climate change: Environmental risks threaten vulnerable populations worldwide through storms, disease, malnutrition, and heat stress. In the next decade, we may bear the cost of billions of dollars annually in climate-related damage.
With our collective expertise across industries, we can help alleviate these risks and inequities through greater financial inclusion.
At Principal™, we’re holding ourselves accountable for inclusion with specific goals. In 2021 we pledged to:
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double our support of minority- and women-owned businesses within five years,
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align our responsible investing with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and
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achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
But we can do more—together. As we face the prospect of energy prices and inflation triggering a global cost-of-living crisis, financial institutions such as ours have a responsibility to help ensure the financially excluded are empowered to engineer their own progress.
One proactive strategy we can use is funding research to tackle one of the greatest challenges facing global populations today. We can freely share the data and insights so all stakeholders—financial services and other businesses, governments, regulators, and more—can base their actions and commitments on the clearest and most timely information to drive forward financial inclusivity. That’s why Principal is producing a comprehensive and transparent body of research in more than 40 markets and countries, the Global Financial Inclusion Index. Its holistic view of financial inclusion can pinpoint opportunities and catalyze our growing collective effort.
By collaborating to amplify, index, and clarify the data we can inspire action with lasting results.
Together we’ll consider the societal implications in all their complexity and strive for sustainable progress toward greater financial inclusion.
Dan Houston is Chairman, President, and CEO, Principal Financial Group and Principal Life Insurance Company, Des Moines, Iowa