Fintech For All

You could imagine that tech should and could provide solutions for people with disabilities. Well, of course, that can only happen if people with disabilities are part of designing the process from the outset. I wonder if their lack of involvement is the reason for the failure of many Fintech solutions? Since being launched and playing a part in the mainstream, financial technology has been met with criticism. These complaints have been due to inaccessibility and discrimination.

According to an article by Entrepreneur, there are 1.7 billion unbanked people worldwide and households with disabilities are more likely to be unbanked as those with no disabilities. To break this down means they have no spending records, resulting in reduced access to financial assistance and loans. For some, it is easier to access or visit a bank, but this can be a daunting task for people with disability hence why Fintech is such an essential tool for many.

Fintech should, in essence, be able to provide convenience and give the chance to personalize financial services with the use of assistive technology to people with disabilities. It should help and not hinder by overcoming barriers to inclusion. With that in mind, Fintech companies have a responsibility to bridge the gap and provide easy access to financial services. But it needs to be functional and affordable for individuals and businesses alike.

To provide some context of the biggest challenges we see with Fintech, it is quite simply not accessible for all. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a fundamental issue when it comes to using some Fintech solutions. AI is often assumed to be more objective than humans. In reality, AI algorithms make decisions based on human-annotated data, which can be biased and exclusionary depending on the data set which has been utilized when setting up the model. A piece of research recently carried out by PMLR on intersectional accuracy for machine learning highlights how important it is when using tech that we don’t limit the data set and the importance of putting in place a learning data set, which allows the tech to evolve. The tech adapts to the way it is used and develops new ways from its learnings. This leads to preventing clichés and isolating anyone from using the tech. It is so easy to pick a product off the shelf that’s already created as it reduces time and effort. However, it can deny access to so many.

There are accessibility guidelines for websites and digital solutions mainly within developed countries such as, Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The guidelines state that financial services firms can open themselves to a lawsuit if any fintech product is not accessible—simple, structured, and easy to navigate. But how do we make this law rather than guidelines?

Interesting a contributor at Forbes, Anuj Nayar, discussed last year some of the top predictions for Fintech in 2022. A key factor to some of this is the need for more scrutiny, and regulation is a must.

Arup Kumar Chatterjee, a financial specialist and Asian development blogger, discussed in a recent post about the global divide. He states, “there is a wide disability gap in mobile phone ownership—where people with disabilities are less likely to own a mobile phone than the non-disabled. Places like Bangladesh have the widest gap, with 55% of the disabled not owning mobile phones, and Pakistan has the smallest, at 11%. With the smartphone ownership gap exceeding the overall mobile phone ownership gap, they are most likely to experience a digital divide.” Everyone is on a different journey and has various hurdles to overcome to be on the same playing field, but not everyone has the access.

Of course, there will always be bumps and elements that need ironing out. I think we are all over the idea of all the talk, we need more action. These mistakes and missteps inadvertently create barriers to digital product accessibility, so let’s stop it. Fintech players need to commit to overcoming these barriers and simply apply changes to make it inclusive from the start. Some are, but not all businesses, why?

Across the globe, we can see steps forward with fintech companies over in the US like Purple, an app for mobile banking for people with disabilities. It combines a tax-advantaged bank account with a debit card that links to a financial platform using cutting-edge algorithms. As a result, customers are not only able to make contactless, easy, and secure payments with a smartphone but also manage their wealth and pension accounts.

Mastercard introduced the accessible card for blind and partially sighted people, this card has unique notches on the touch card’s short side, it allows the individual to determine whether it is their credit, debit, or prepaid card. This is a continued commitment that they have made to inclusivity.

Another is WeBank an enabler best describes them as it has accessibility features on its app to ensure visually impaired citizens of the People’s Republic of China have easy access to banking services. The WeBank App integrates biometric authentication, face anti-spoofing, artificial intelligence-powered speech synthesis, and real-time image processing. In addition, the open-source development framework of the app allows WeBank to share its experience with the industry to help improve accessibility. Again, allowing this collaboration to be open with other organizations, we can learn from each other.

Fintech has an advantage over the traditional banking industry, especially when looking at direct access to users, particularly the financially disadvantaged. We need to ensure the involvement of people with disabilities in the process of design as we tackle financial inclusion. With the support of governments and insisting on regulation, we could speed it up and not leave so many behind.