Financial services

Why we invest in this sector

To varying degrees, the financial sectors of African and South Asian countries are all under-developed.

Businesses find it difficult to borrow, capital markets are narrow and illiquid, insurance and other risk management products are unavailable, and large portions or the population have no bank account. Our financial sector investments are aimed at fixing these problems.

Our strategic focus

• Investing to develop capital markets to unlock further funding over the long term
• Working with financial intermediaries to reach SMEs
• Supporting specialised financial service providers to meet people’s ‘basic needs’
• Investing to harness the transformative power of digital financial services
• Providing capital to support the transition to net zero and resilient economies
• Investing to advance gender equality and women’s economic empowerment

Who we partner with

We support the development and growth of financial services across our markets by investing in a broad range of financial institutions and partners:

Financial services

• Non-bank financial services: Including leasing companies, infrastructure finance, mortgage companies, and microfinance institutions
• Fintech and market infrastructure: Including payment switches, credit bureaus, digital lenders, and stock exchanges

Financial institutions

• Insurers: Including life insurance, reinsurance, property and casualty insurance, and micro-insurance
• Banks: Including commercial banks, and microfinance banks
• African regional DFIs

You can read more about how and why we invest in financial services in our sector strategy.