Banking for Billions: Where technology meets the global majority

This interactive session, co-presented by design studios Quicksand (India) (http://quicksand.co.in/), Somia CX (Indonesia) (https://somiacx.com/), and the Gates Foundation, will bring to life real-world stories from India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Uganda, to answer the question: How can we design digital financial solutions that truly serve the complex contexts of the 1.6 billion adults who remain excluded from mainstream financial systems?

Globally, nearly half of all unbanked individuals are concentrated in just seven economies—China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, and Bangladesh. In these countries, many people are engaging with formal banking and financial institutions for the first time in their lives. Digital financial services (DFS) offer an unprecedented opportunity to enhance financial access and inclusion. However, in fast-emerging economies like India or Indonesia, technology and digital services are not a guaranteed solution for social or financial inclusion. These services require complex interactions with a series of physical and human touchpoints to build trust and stability among people. In some cases, DFS is inherently discriminatory, further deepening the very social, economic, and cultural gaps they aim to reduce.

In the session, we will share stories in film and multimedia formats on topics such as financial fraud, the evolution of financial infrastructure, community versus individual financial practices, and the gendered impacts of digital access. These examples offer critical insights into how digital finance unfolds in practice, especially in low-and-middle-income country contexts with low digital capability or literacy. We will engage participants on how this research can not just inform but fundamentally transform the way we design and innovate for financial equity.