Financial Inclusion

Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion plays a crucial role in reducing poverty and achieving social development for the most marginalized communities – how well are you measuring your company or portfolio impact?

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Solutions

Microfinance
Index

Offering a simple answer to a
complicated question: “what does social impact mean for financial service
providers?”

MFI Index

Fintech
Insights

From due diligence on fintech solutions across the globe, to benchmarks and comparable insights on impact
performance.

Fintech Insights

CDFI Impact Performance

Hear from CDFI borrowers to map the experience and impact of receiving a loan. Gain new insights on customer outcomes and challenges.

CDFI Impact

Impact Due Diligence

Pre-investment impact measurement made simple, fast and affordable – get trustworthy and comparable social performance data across your portfolio.

Due Diligence

Sector Highlights

2026 Microfinance Index Report

We listened to 18,000+ clients from 35 countries, representing approximately 22 million global microfinance borrowers. Check out the report here.
What Borrowers’ Voices Reveal About the Child Impact of Financial Inclusion

New research with UNICEF USA explores how a child lens can reveal differences in how households experience financial services — from resilience and savings to education and wellbeing outcomes.
From Payday to Any Day: How Earned Wage Access is Reshaping Financial Habits

We conducted research with four earned wage access (EWA) providers to explore how employees engage with EWA, its effects on financial well-being, and its implications for employers.
Strive Women: Insights on Cybersecurity and Digital Risk

What 1,017 women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam told us about digital scams and fraud, from protective habits to recovery and financial resilience.
Visa: Unlocking the Benefits of Digital Payments for Micro & Small Businesses in Mexico

A paper examining the results of a survey that gathered insights from 753 micro and small businesses operating within digital payments in Mexico.
Kiva: Impact Study for US Borrowers

In 2022, 60 Decibels teamed up with Kiva US to conduct their first-ever independent impact assessment. Between April and May, 60dB conducted 502 phone surveys, speaking with both Kiva borrowers (80% of respondents) and Kiva applicants to assess Kiva’s impact.

“60dB impact data has empowered us to share impactful insights with shareholders, enabling a more informed evaluation of our model and keeping us at the forefront of innovation.”
Linh Luc, Senior Marketing Manager
Vui App

“When a third party like 60 Decibels calls, we get a sharper understanding of the extent to which our loans improve the lives of our borrowers. Getting closer to the truth by removing potential positive bias from internal surveying is key to understanding impact.”
Eli Cherner, Director
Kiva US

“The results have given us a deep dive on understanding our customers, the report has also enabled us to improve our service delivery and constantly check on the impact we are creating on the lives of our customers.”
Robert Kiprotich, Marketing & Partnerships
Juhudi Kilimo

“The outcome of the research is very useful for business decision making. The report is tailored for each product we offer so it is easy to know where to improve and the report is also very concise and easy to understand.”
Patrick Kyei, Head of Marketing & BD
Opportunity International Savings and Loans

Latest Insights

The 2026 MFI Index

The 2026 Microfinance Index is built on interviews with 18,709 clients from 35 countries, representing approximately 22 million global microfinance borrowers.

Webinar: From Insight to Action — Inside Estímulo’s Customer-Led Approach to MSE Lending in Brazil

We partnered with Estímulo to interview over 400 MSE borrowers and non-borrowers across Brazil. Lucas Conrado joins Carla Grados Villamar for a conversation on what the data revealed, and the concrete changes they made in response.

Webinar: What Child Lens Investing Reveals About Financial Inclusion

Join 60 Decibels, UNICEF USA, Global Partnerships, VisionFund, and Accion for new research on what a child lens reveals about financial inclusion.

What Borrowers’ Voices Reveal About the Child Impact of Financial Inclusion

New research explores how a child lens can reveal differences in how households experience financial services — from resilience and savings to education and wellbeing outcomes.

Webinar: From Data to Impact – New Insights from the 2025 Microfinance Index

Join us for a deep dive into the latest findings from the 2025 MFI Index. We explore what’s new in this year’s report, highlight our 2025 Social Impact Awardees, and feature perspectives from participating FSPs and clients whose voices helped shape the Index.

Anecdotal Evidence Won’t Help Us Understand Financial Inclusion

Thoughts from our CEO Sasha Dichter on the importance of objectively quantifying the impacts of microfinance.

Exploring fintechs in the 60dB Financial Inclusion Benchmarks

Discover more about the 60dB Financial Inclusion Benchmarks - including the indicators, some of the fintechs included, and what their end users had to say!

Sasha Dichter discusses fintech regulation

Customer Impact Data – The Greatest Unmanaged Risk in Fintech

Sasha Dichter, CEO and co-founder of 60 Decibels, discusses the importance of fintechs arming themselves with data that can protect them from regulatory overreach.

Private: Cambodia Microfinance Report

This report provides an in-depth look at the Cambodian microfinance sector and its impact on clients’ businesses, households, resilience, financial management, and agency.

Rethinking Financial Inclusion: Amplifying the Voices of Savings Account Clients

As we prepare for the launch of the 2024 Microfinance Index, we're committed to further amplifying the voices of savings account clients.

The Next Frontier in Inclusive Fintech: The Value of Client-Centric Impact Measurement

As the fintech industry expands, placing the customer’s perspective at the forefront becomes increasingly crucial, to ensure that fintech solutions are responsible and genuinely enhance clients’ lives.

Exploring Earned Wage Access with Vui App

We worked with Vui App to collect data from end-users across six dimensions of financial inclusion to better understand their reach and impact.

Insights from three top-performing financial service providers

60 Decibels' Microfinance Index Top Impact Awards are a recognition of top performance in delivering financial services and making a positive impact on the lives of their clients, relative to their peers. We asked 3 of our 2023 awardees to share insights into how their business operations have contributed to achieving top scores across multiple indicators – here's what they had to say!