In a recent episode of the Visa Direct Money Travels podcast, Kosta Peric joined the conversation to discuss how the Gates Foundation is helping the 1.7 billion¹ people in the world who lack access to a bank account and safe, affordable financial services. He discusses how the Gates Foundation is changing this reality for the global unbanked, and how digital payment innovators like Visa Direct are helping accelerate financial inclusion around the world.
Here’s 5 things we learned about empowering the unbanked and how technology and partnerships are making a difference.
1. Reaching the millions still left out
Peric points out that entire communities, especially in rural Africa and South Asia, live beyond the reach of banks, using cash even for essential everyday transactions.
For countless people around the world, making or receiving a payment still means hours of travel and extra costs along the way, making digital financial access more of a necessity than a convenience. It is a powerful tool that brings freedom, security and opportunity to many.
The goal isn’t merely to “open bank accounts,” but to embed useful, everyday financial tools into the lives of those historically excluded.
2. Why infrastructure matters most
One of the core themes in Peric’s narrative is that sustainable inclusion hinges on payments infrastructure, not just microcredit or charitable handouts.
Three critical building blocks emerge:
- Interoperable, real-time payment rails
All people should be able to transact with any wallet, any bank, any merchant, instantly, without barriers. Without interoperability you risk recreating silos where only certain network users can transact. - Digital identity and KYC plumbing
Onboarding millions of users demands identity solutions that are both robust and affordable especially in regulatory contexts. The Gates Foundation supports identity tools that help people be recognized and trusted in digital systems. - Open-source reference software (Mojaloop)
To reduce the cost and friction of building payments systems, the Foundation has invested in open source platforms like Mojaloop. Governments, central banks, fintechs can adopt or adapt, rather than starting from scratch. This helps scale fast while leveraging shared innovation.
Peric emphasizes that his team doesn’t want to operate platforms directly. Instead, they provide grants, technical assistance, and software “assets” to ecosystem actors (central banks, regulators, payments operators).
3. Closing the gender gap and driving real usage
Access is only the first step. The Gates Foundation tracks progress by looking at how financial systems are improving people’s everyday lives, not just how many accounts are created.
They focus on things like:
- Whether people are using digital tools to make transactions regularly
- How many women who were once excluded are now actively participating
- How well these systems handle small, everyday payments between individuals and local businesses
Peric notes that for digital finance to be truly inclusive, the infrastructure must support low-value, high-frequency transactions such as paying a few cents several times a day. Many traditional systems struggle with this, but new digital networks are being built to make it possible.
Finally, Peric highlights the persistent gender gap in financial inclusion. Around the world, women are still less likely to have a bank account, own a smartphone, or meet the requirements to access formal financial services. These barriers limit their ability to participate fully in the economy. He stresses that every inclusion strategy must be designed for everyone, and that empowering women is essential for building stronger, more equitable digital economies.
4. Visa Direct and the Gates Foundation enable the inclusion agenda
The Gates Foundation’s work builds the scaffolding; private-sector actors bring scale, reliability, and customer trust. In this ecosystem, Visa Direct plays a pivotal role.
Below are the ways Visa Direct’s capabilities can align with the inclusion agenda:
- Real time² transfers to eligible debit cards / wallets
Visa Direct enables funds to move real time into eligible cards and wallets, which is critical in use cases like emergency disbursements, merchant payouts, and peer-to-peer transfers. - Broad network reach and trust
Visa’s existing infrastructure, fraud controls, and risk systems³ provide a foundation of trust in markets where users are unfamiliar or sceptical of digital payments. - Scalable
For inclusion to work, solutions must operate at micro-scale (small payments) but with high volume. Visa Direct’s global network can manage scale, routing, settlements, and clearing across partners. - Collaborative participation
Visa Direct doesn’t act in isolation, it works via financial institution partners, fintechs, wallets, and local rails. That means participants in underserved markets can plug into Visa’s rails without reinventing the wheel.
5. Usage-driven design, not just access
One of the subtler but powerful points Peric makes is that design should follow use, not just ambition. In other words, it’s not enough to offer accounts, digital wallets, or payment rails, you need to create systems that people will want, trust, and actually use in their daily lives.
Here’s what that implies:
- User-centric experience: The interfaces, flows, language, and friction points must be built for someone who is new to financial technology not for power users or bankers.
- Cost structure that fits: If transaction fees, minimum balances, or maintenance costs are too high, people will avoid using the services, even if they have access.
- Local context matters: Features must account for things like intermittent connectivity, low smartphone penetration, varying literacy levels, local languages, and existing cash habits.
- Feedback loops and iteration: Collecting user behavior data, feedback, and acting on it helps evolve the design to suit real-world gaps and pain points.
From infrastructure to impact
The Gates Foundation’s focus on openness, digital identity, and gender equity provides a clear blueprint for scaling financial inclusion. Meanwhile, platforms like Visa Direct act as the vital bridge connecting these innovations to real people, everyday transactions, and the heartbeat of local economies.
As Kosta Peric reminds us, “Financial inclusion is not just about access, it’s about giving people the tools to participate, thrive, and shape their own future.”
The path is set, the tools are ready, and the question is no longer if inclusion can happen, but how quickly, fairly, and sustainably we will bring billions of people into the financial mainstream. With the Gates Foundation and the Visa Direct network, this movement for inclusion is growing and its impact is real.
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Disclaimers:
- Inclusive Digital Financial Services Guide The Gates Foundation.
- Actual fund availability for all Visa Direct transactions may depend on receiving financial institution, account type, region, compliance processes, along with other factors, as applicable.
- Fraud prevention and risk management capabilities are designed to reduce—but cannot eliminate—the risk of unauthorized transactions. Actual fraud outcomes depend on multiple factors, including issuer and acquirer controls, regulatory requirements, and evolving threat landscapes.