Fair Digital Finance Accelerator
Digital financial services are transforming our lives worldwide.
With access to payment systems, credit, savings, and digital tools, families can prepare for financial shocks, young people can invest in their futures, and women can gain greater financial independence. According to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025, 79% of adults globally now have a financial account — an increase of 28 percentage points since 2011 — underscoring both the rapid expansion of digital financial access and the growing need to ensure these systems operate safely and fairly for consumers.
To fully realise the benefits, digital financial services must be designed with consumer protection and empowerment at their core — read our Vision for Fair Digital Finance here. As instant payment systems and digital financial services become increasingly interconnected and embedded in our daily lives, consumers are also facing new and evolving challenges related to fraud and scams, access to effective redress, transparency of financial products and services, and the use of personal data. This creates an important opportunity to strengthen the consumer protection ecosystem and ensure that consumer perspectives help shape policies and practices that build trust, confidence, and inclusion in digital financial services.
The Fair Digital Finance Accelerator strengthens the ability of consumer organisations to fight for a future in which consumers everywhere can benefit from inclusive, safe, data-protected, private, and sustainable digital finance ecosystems.
ACCELERATING FAIR DIGITAL FINANCE ACROSS THE GLOBE
Consumer organisations are essential to building digital finance systems that work for people. They represent consumer voices in policy-making, generate evidence on market practices, handle complaints, and advocate for stronger protections, particularly for low-income, vulnerable and digitally excluded communities. To learn more, read our report with CGAP (The Role of Consumer Organisations to Support Consumers of Financial Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries), which draws on the direct experience of 42 Consumers International Members spanning 38 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Fair Digital Finance Accelerator harnesses this power and scales the collective impact of consumer organisations to strengthen consumer empowerment and protection in digital finance. The Accelerator is a unique, Global Network of consumer organisations who are actively transforming the digital finance ecosystem at both local and international levels by making the consumer voice a core part of how digital financial services are designed. This is achieved by sustainably building the capacity of consumer organisations to engage confidently and meaningfully on improving consumer outcomes in policy and products. Through peer-learning, collaborative advocacy campaigns, local policy dialogue, and international engagement, Accelerator Members are empowered to work together to champion an inclusive, safe, data-protected, private, and sustainable digital finance marketplace.
Since launching in 2022, the Accelerator has grown into a Global Network of 70 consumer organisations across 53 countries.
Measurable Impact
In its first three years, the Accelerator:
- Trained over 1,000 consumer advocates through tailored online modules and peer learning programmes.
- Produced research and practical frameworks shared in 50+ regulatory and industry forums.
- Supported advocacy campaigns on transparency, scams, and Buy Now Pay Later regulation.
- Awarded 19 sub-grants to Members, enabling innovation in consumer research, digital tools, and outreach.
This resulted in:
- 80% of participants reporting significantly improved knowledge of digital financial services and consumer risks.
- 70%+ reporting they feel more confident and better equipped to engage regulators and providers.
- Nearly 90% reporting improved communication with regulators, with 82% citing stronger collaboration.
- Regulators and firms increasingly using the Accelerator’s data-driven insights to address gaps in consumer protection.
This growing influence has already contributed to improvements in consumer protection frameworks in six countries. Through targeted sub-grants and technical assistance, consumer organisations in Barbados, Brazil, Cambodia, Fiji, Rwanda and Uganda translated evidence, advocacy, and strategic engagement into concrete regulatory reforms and enforcement action at the national level.
"Thanks to the Financial Digital Fair Accelerator, we developed a digital complaint platform to facilitate collective consumer complaints in the financial sector” says Fiorentina García from Tec-Check Organización de Consumidores (Mexico).
Select Members in the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator Global Network include:
HOW THE ACCELERATOR SUPPORTS CONSUMER ORGANISATIONS
Members of the Accelerator are empowered through:
- A dynamic Global Network of 70 consumer organisations working toward a shared vision for Fair Digital Finance
- Practical research insights on consumer risks in instant payment systems and digital financial services
- Peer-learning sessions hosted by Consumers International
- Coordinated global advocacy campaigns
- Opportunities to contribute to Consumers International thought leadership
- Platforms to engage with digital finance stakeholders and inform policy dialogue
- Priority consideration when emerging fair digital finance opportunities arise — whether from us or partners we direct their way — ranging from events, speaking engagements, resources, and world-changing initiatives.
Consumers International has benefited from the support of many important actors in the global digital finance ecosystem. Alongside Accelerator Members, our Change Network and wider global community can expect new insights, high-profile campaigns, and the chance to engage in expert discussion and policy dialogue as we bring consumer perspectives directly into digital finance decision-making.
Contact FDFA@consint.org to learn more.
The Fair Digital Finance Advisory Panel ensures the Accelerator is on the cutting edge of developments in digital finance policy and regulation. It is made up of policy experts and senior leaders from across consumer advocacy, business, regulation and civil society.
Ashley Onyango
Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech, Mobile for Development,GSMA
María José
Directora Ejecutiva,
Tribuna Ecuatoriana de Consumidores y Usuarios
Deon Woods Bell
Senior Advisor, Global Policy, Financial Services for the Poor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Anna Wallace,
SPO Consumer Protection and RegTech, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Juan Carlos Izaguirre
Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP
Eric Duflos
Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP
Maria Lúcia Leitão
Head of Banking Conduct Supervision Department, Central Bank of Portugal (Banco de Portugal)
Myra Valenzuela
Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP
Njuguna Ndung'u
Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury & Economic Planning.
Rosemary Shumirayi Chikarakara Mpofu
Executive Director, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe
Tamara Cook
CEO, Financial Sector Deepening Kenya
Camilo Tellez
Deputy Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, UNDP
Youkyung Huh
Director of Digital and Financial Regulatory Policy, Consumers Korea
WHAT'S COMING UP
Consumers International and our Member, Lembaga Perlindungan Konsumen Nasional Indonesia (LPKNI) are co-hosting the International Policy Forum on Digital Financial Services and Consumer Protection in Jakarta, Indonesia on 20–21 August 2026.
The Forum is designed as an Indonesia-grounded international policy forum, bringing together consumer organisations, policymakers, academics, industry innovators, and global experts to drive practical consumer protection outcomes in instant payment systems and digital financial services.
This event is targeted towards members of our Fair Digital Finance Accelerator, who have been working closely with Consumers International on instant payment systems, digital finance and consumer protection.
Not in the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator? If you are a Consumers International Member working on these topics and you would like to attend, contact us at fdfp@consint.org.
Latest News
How do we build a resilient future for consumers in digital finance?
A Loading... from Consumers International finds that while digital finance is expanding access, many consumers remain financially vulnerable and exposed to risks such as scams. The research highlights a “protection–outcomes gap,” where existing consumer protection rules are not consistently improving real financial well-being, and calls for systems designed around resilience, protection, and better consumer outcomes.
New report on maximising consumer impact in digital finance
We are excited to launch our report, "Maximising Consumer Voices in Digital Financial Services Policy-Making." This study, based on interviews with Consumers International Members across 13 countries, highlights innovative strategies by consumer organisations to enhance digital financial services. Designed primarily for low- and middle-income countries, it also offers valuable insights for high-income nations.
Campaign for transparent digital finance
Consumers International urges governments, civil society organisations, digital finance providers, and other stakeholders to endorse our multistakeholder call-to-action for greater transparency in digital finance. We seek to improve consumer understanding and trust through relevant, timely, and inclusive information for informed decision-making and protection from harm.
Meet the 2024 FDFA grantees
This year, Consumers International awarded funding to 11 Members from the FDFA Network in low- and middle-income countries to enhance national fair digital finance initiatives. These projects include capacity building, policy advocacy, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and the development of accessible digital tools. Key efforts focus on improving transparency, fraud detection, consumer literacy, stakeholder collaboration, and the creation of robust complaint and redress systems.
Latest blog
Ashley Olson Onyango, Head of Financial Inclusion and AgriTech at the GSMA, discusses the launch of Consumers International's new digital finance index, 'Digital Finance: The Consumer Experience in 2024', and the progress needed to deliver better outcomes for consumers in low- and middle-income countries.
Influencing
Our participation in the ITU Global Symposium for Regulators 2024 emphasised the need for affordable access to digital platforms for vulnerable consumers. Additionally, at the Cerise+SPTF annual meeting, we highlighted the importance of responsible, transparent, and inclusive digital finance ecosystems, advocating for the institutionalisation of the consumer voice in policy and business decisions.
Opinion
Consumers International has amplified our perspectives across platforms like FinDev Gateway, FinEquity blogs, and CGAP through insightful pieces such as "A Fair Digital Finance Market Failure: What a Recent Consumer Protection Index Reveals," "How Can We Design Consumer Protection That Builds Women’s Trust?," and "The Role of Consumer Organizations to Support Consumers of Financial Services in Low and Middle Income Countries." These contributions highlight our commitment to enhancing consumer protection and trust.