Fintech must match tech progress with true inclusion

As the fintech industry celebrates International Women's Day 2026, under the theme "Give to Gain," we asked female leaders and innovators to share their frustrations and optimism about progress within the global financial ecosystem.

Their perspectives span stablecoins and cross-border payments to digital bookkeeping and blockchain infrastructure, and together they paint a picture of an industry where the technology is often ahead of the culture.

The promise, and the gap, in fintech representation

First, the data. There is plenty to celebrate.

Innovation is levelling the playing field. Women's account ownership in low- and middle-income economies rose to 73% in 2024, up from 66% just three years earlier, according to the World Bank. Digital payment usage among women in developing economies has climbed to 58%, and more women are saving formally than ever before.

But 700 million women globally still lack a financial account, especially in the Global South. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women remain far less likely than men to hold one. The barriers are stubbornly familiar: insufficient funds, high fees, distance to banking locations, and household dynamics that see accounts held in a male family member's name.

As Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo argued in her landmark paper Women Empowerment and Economic Development, "continuous policy commitment to equality for its own sake may be needed to bring about equality between men and women." Development alone isn't enough, and neither is technology. But the fintech tools emerging today are making that commitment more actionable than ever.

Representation within the industry itself remains a challenge, and the tools being built are only as inclusive as the teams behind them. This is a real pain point for Marieke Flament, Co-Founder of Currency of Power. While the industry is quick to celebrate its own progress, she sees a different reality:

"Over the last twelve months, I've watched progress erode. Representation of women in financial services is going backwards, and the products claiming to champion inclusion remain too complex, built by teams that don't reflect the people they're supposedly serving. Crypto is the starkest example - years of democratizing promise, largely undelivered. I'm not prepared to celebrate progress that isn't there."

Yet Flament's outlook is not without hope. She believes the foundations for real change already exist:

"My hope lives in the technology that already exists - stablecoins embedded into platforms women already trust, removing complexity without removing benefit. Paired with a relentless push to lower barriers to finance education and careers, real inclusion is achievable. It just starts with who's in the room when the product is being built."

Rebuilding payments from the ground up

If representation is one side of the coin, infrastructure is the other. One area where fintech is delivering tangible change is cross-border payments, particularly for women entrepreneurs in emerging economies. Nkiru Uwaje, Co-Founder of MANSA, a fintech transforming global payments through faster and more efficient cross-border settlements, points to the structural inequities baked into existing payment corridors:

"For too long, cross-border payment systems have been built around corridors that don't reflect where economic growth is actually happening. This forces transactions through the US dollar even when neither party needs it, creating unpredictable FX pricing, liquidity constraints, and settlement delays. At MANSA, we're building infrastructure that delivers funds in local currency, so when women entrepreneurs and business owners in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia receive payments, they're predictable, fast, and in the currency they actually use."

The next phase of fintech, Uwaje argues, "must be built from the ground up around local realities, not retrofitted from systems designed for economies that already have deep dollar liquidity."

Simplifying the business of running a business

Beyond payments, fintech is reshaping the day-to-day realities of entrepreneurship. Susan van der Byl, a chartered accountant and clients and accounts manager at leading traditional and crypto accountancy firm Nephos, highlights how digital tools are stripping away the administrative burden that has long held back women running small businesses:

"Digital bookkeeping and tax tools are now embedded directly into banking and payment platforms, automating invoicing, expense tracking, cash-flow monitoring, and even tax submissions. Tasks that once required hours of manual admin - or costly professional support - can now be managed in real time."

Van der Byl also points to how fintech is transforming long-term financial planning: "Platforms such as PensionBee allow users to consolidate pensions from multiple employers into a single, transparent view. For women, who are statistically more likely to have fragmented career paths, this clarity is significant." The real innovation, she says, "is enabling women to run businesses, and plan their financial futures, with greater clarity, confidence, and control."

Opening the gates of traditional finance

Jenna Peterson, COO at Midnight Foundation, an organisation dedicated to advancing the development, adoption, and real-world impact of the privacy-enhancing Midnight blockchain project, brings a perspective shaped by decades inside traditional finance, and a clear-eyed view of its limitations:

"Access to opportunity has long been shaped by geography, institutional relationships, and existing capital, within systems that have historically been male-dominated and centered on developed-world capital markets. That model works well for those already inside it, but it has not consistently expanded participation across gender or across global financial strata."

Blockchain, Peterson argues, offers a structural alternative: "Open, internet-native financial rails lower barriers to entry and reduce reliance on centralized gatekeepers. With nothing more than connectivity, individuals can hold assets, move value, and participate in global networks regardless of nationality, gender or starting balance."

Call to action - no more status quo

International Women's Day is a moment for reflection, but the trends highlighted here don't stop on March 8th. From stablecoin infrastructure and local-currency payment rails to automated bookkeeping and decentralised financial networks, fintech is building the tools for a more inclusive financial future. The question is no longer whether the technology exists, it's whether the industry building it will reflect the diversity of the people it claims to serve.