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, digitalisation 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. Consumers are often not present in financial sector regulatory decision-making in low and middleincome countries. Nor are their experiences and perceptions directly reflected in reported metrics on consumer protection. Consumers International’s Fair Digital Finance Accelerator (‘the Accelerator’) brings together consumer associations in low and middle-income countries, builds their capacity to represent the collective consumer voice in fair digital finance, and helps them to build constructive bridges to regulators and financial service providers.
This report develops a fair digital finance index for low and middle-income Accelerator member countries. The index is centred 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. The report findings present a total index score of 40 out of a possible 100. This suggests that financial consumer protection does not pass the test when evaluated from the consumer perspective. The highest scores are achieved in elements which assess digital finance inclusivity elements at 65.2 out of a possible 100 and enabling infrastructure at 53.7 out of a possible 100 and the former driven by indicators on account usage frequency
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