Last Friday, March 8, International Women’s Day was commemorated under the slogan “Financing women’s rights to accelerate equality.” Why the technological transformation of financial institutions is a crucial step to building a more inclusive and equitable ecosystem
How to ensure that women have more opportunities to lead and contribute significantly to the economic growth of the region? This is a question that can be answered from different perspectives.
According to recent estimates, 75% of countries will maintain public spending cuts in 2025 due to conflict and rising fuel and food prices. Austerity has a negative impact on women as it reduces public spending on essential services, care policies and social protection.
Financial inclusion, such as equitable access to services such as savings, credit, insurance and payments, is a key factor for the social and economic empowerment of people, as it provides them with essential tools to accumulate assets, generate income and manage risks. According to the BCRA, in 2023 only 36.4% of women in Argentina accessed this type of services, revealing the gender gap and therefore, the lower capacity for economic independence compared to men. This gap represents an opportunity cost in the financial market, since according to a report by Ernst & Young, by 2028 women would control 75% of consumer discretionary spending worldwide.
Under this panorama, technology in general, and automation in particular, became fundamental pieces when it came to promoting the financial evolution of women in Argentina and the region, since they eliminate barriers and streamline processes when credit evaluation , providing access to credit without human subjectivities and more quickly.
Technology is presented as a facilitator of the resources necessary to strengthen the economic independence of unbanked segments, and enables not only inclusion but the ability to evolve in the financial system.
Likewise, technology not only facilitates, but also catalyzes change. The technological transformation of financial institutions is a crucial step to build a more inclusive and equitable ecosystem, since it can motivate the incorporation of gender policies by seeing business opportunities where attention was not previously paid, due to not having sufficient tools. to include customers from unbanked segments.
According to a report from ECLAC that reports data obtained in a survey carried out in the last quarter of 2022, the 63.7% of informal workers requested some type of financing. Given this trend, it is clear that there is a demand for access to financial products by a sector that usually makes payments on loans or non-bank cards, but that nevertheless does not have a credit history in the universe of banks for various reasons. , especially informal work that does not allow proof of income.
By employing alternative data analysis, implementing decision automation engines, and artificial intelligence models, financial companies can evaluate the creditworthiness of women without formal credit history in a more agile way and without human subjectivity. Furthermore, it becomes possible to create personalized financial products adapted to the specific needs of women, representing more business opportunities for the financial market.
Decision engines offer a unique opportunity to transform the landscape of financial inclusion in Argentina, allowing financial institutions to automate and make their credit evaluation processes more efficient and faster.
Reducing the gender gap in financial inclusion is essential not only to achieve gender equity, but also to promote sustainable economic development. The effective implementation of technology, accompanied by state and private sector policies, such as financial education programs and credit opportunities for unbanked sectors, can pave the way to a future where women have more opportunities to lead and contribute significantly. to the economic growth of the region.
CMO of SIISA
Source: Ambito
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