BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 10. The
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank
Group, has launched a new risk-sharing initiative aimed at helping
banks, fintech companies and other financial institutions in
emerging markets expand access to digital payment services.


According to information provided by IFC, the initiative will
initially provide up to $700 million in guarantees to cover part of
the credit settlement risk faced by financial institutions
participating in global payment ecosystems.


IFC said financial institutions in some emerging markets face
financial requirements that limit their ability to provide digital
payment services, leaving millions of consumers and local
businesses dependent on cash.


The new initiative is designed to address these constraints and
enable more banks and fintechs to offer reliable and innovative
digital payment services, particularly to small businesses, women
entrepreneurs and people who have historically had limited access
to formal financial services.


“Expanding digital payments in emerging markets is one of the
most powerful tools to create jobs and bring people into the formal
economy,” said IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop.


“When a small business owner or woman entrepreneur accepts a
card payment, it opens the door to more customers, more revenue,
and a foothold in the digital economy,” he added.


Diop noted that financial requirements continue to limit the
ability of many banks and fintechs to expand digital payment
services.


“This initiative changes that, helping businesses expand, create
jobs, and bring digital payment services to those who have been
left behind,” he said.







IFC expects the initiative to boost competition in the payments
sector while improving the quality and accessibility of digital
payment services.


According to IFC estimates, participating financial institutions
could see digital payment volumes increase by around $280 billion.
The initiative is also expected to support the issuance of 360
million additional cards and increase the number of active users by
90 million, including 39 million women.


IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the
private sector in emerging markets. It operates in more than 100
countries and provides capital, expertise and influence to help
create markets and opportunities in developing economies.


In fiscal 2025, IFC committed a record $71.7 billion to private
companies and financial institutions in developing countries, while
also mobilizing private capital for development.


Meanwhile, the World Bank’s The Global Findex Database 2025
shows that across low- and middle-income economies, 61 percent of
adults, or 82 percent of account owners, made or received a digital
payment in 2024, a 27 percentage point increase from 2014. Digital
payments are the most popular formal financial service, used by
twice as many adults as saved formally and by three times as many
as borrowed formally. Use of digital merchant payments—payments
made by retail customers to businesses in stores or online—grew to
42 percent of all adults in 2024, up from 35 percent in 2021, with
variations by region (refer to figure ES.5). The share of adults
making such payments more than doubled in some economies, including
Cameroon, the Kyrgyz Republic, Paraguay, and Viet Nam, and showed
widespread adoption in Kazakhstan, Kenya, and Mongolia


Government and wage payments likewise continued their trend
toward digitalization. About 75 percent of recipients of government
payments in low- and middle-income economies5 received their
government wage, pension, or social transfer payments directly in
accounts. Half of private-sector wage recipients did likewise.