Impact Story

Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion

Mexico has made substantial progress in gender equality, yet remaining finance gaps for women and women-owned businesses are limiting the country's private sector growth and economic development.

Financial Access Challenges

Mexico has made substantial progress in gender equality, but remaining gaps hinder the country’s private sector growth, none more so than women’s limited access to finance. The gender gap in account ownership stands at 14 percent (2022), and the primary reason women entrepreneurs refrain from starting businesses is lack of financing. Many financial and non-financial institutions are not sensitized to women’s financial needs, often lacking suitable products and positive service experiences. Addressing this financial access gap for women customers could improve Mexico’s economic development and competitiveness.

World Bank Prior Support

Mexico’s authorities and the World Bank Group have prioritized financial inclusion in the country, particularly for women. The World Bank’s most recent country diagnostics and Country Partnership Framework (CPF) 2020–2025 emphasize financial inclusion in Mexico as a focus area for support. For the last 10 years, the World Bank has worked with Mexico authorities and development partners on financial inclusion efforts in Mexico, many with a gender focus. A 2023 World Bank assessment found that many major banks and credit providers did not recognize the value of tailoring products and services to women customers.

Mexico’s Journey Toward Women’s Financial Inclusion

2010

IFC launches the Banking on Women program, a gender financing initiative

2016

Mexico introduces the first national financial inclusion strategy, with women a key priority

2017

About 1.8 million women receive financial education through a savings and credit consolidation project in Mexico

2018

The Mexico Systematic Country Diagnostic highlights the importance of financial access to private sector growth

2020

Over 80% of credit recipients of a World Bank rural finance project are women

2021

The World Bank Country Partnership Framework 2020–2025 emphasizes financial inclusion as enabling for rapid growth

Citibanamex and IFC join forces to promote gender equality in Mexico through a women entrepreneurs program

2022

Mexican financial institutions create a gender equality committee to address inclusion

2023

The World Bank assesses Mexican financial institutions' inclusion efforts and finds many do not see the value of tailoring financial products to women customers

F4D steps in to support authorities in developing women’s inclusion guidelines for financial institutions across Mexico

2024

Mexico's Ministry of Finance publishes guidelines for the adoption of a gender perspective in financial institutions

Inter-institutional collaboration between the public sector, private sector, and international organizations is key to strategically address the closing of gender gaps in the financial sector. In this context, the support of the World Bank Group's F4D program to develop the guide ‘Expanding Women's Financial Inclusion in Mexico’ is a concrete example of how cooperation can generate valuable tools to guide institutions in gender mainstreaming, from the promotion of women's leadership at the highest levels to the design of financial products and services.

— Dr. Alfredo Navarrete Martínez, Head of the Banking, Securities and Savings Unit, Ministry of Finance

F4D Support

Building on prior World Bank engagements in Mexico and the financial sector assessment, in 2023, F4D stepped in to support authorities in the development of the first guidelines for adoption of a gender perspective across financial institutions. The project team included staff from the World Bank, CGAP, and IFC, leveraging their cumulative expertise on women’s financial inclusion issues in collaboration with Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and the CIIGEF. IFC brought knowledge of gender-sensitive strategies and product offerings of financial institutions, and the World Bank and CGAP brought knowledge of policies and interventions to advance women’s use of financial services.

In September 2024, the Ministry of Finance published the guidelines in Spanish on its web page, with endorsement by the CIIGEF. The guidelines aim to help Mexico’s financial institutions make organizational and cultural changes to integrate the intentional inclusion of women. The guidelines provide a framework that institutions can use to develop their own gender strategies.

Impact of the Guidelines

The new guidelines are a step toward ensuring the long-term sustainability of the financial industry’s gender-sensitive business strategy and building a more inclusive and equitable financial sector in Mexico. Closing the gender gap in financial inclusion not only promotes gender equality but also enhances Mexico’s economic development and global competitiveness by tapping into the entrepreneurial talent of women, given their demographic representation and significant presence in the MSME sector.

Being a first exercise of its kind, these guidelines can transcend borders, serving as a model for other countries and regions. Mexican officials, the CIIGEF, and the World Bank will work together to share and promote the guidelines to galvanize engagement and contribute to global dialogue on financial inclusion.

Monitoring and evaluation tools can be used to track the guidelines’ impact. The guidelines include a scorecard for financial institutions to assess progress and a survey for women customers to measure perspectives.

What's in the Guidelines?

Business case for targeting women customers better
Impact of gender norms on women's financial inclusion
Concrete actions for adopting a gender perspective in management, administration, personnel, and products
Indicators to measure the effectiveness of initiatives
Success stories of banks that improved women's financial inclusion
Support tools to help institutions adopt a gender perspective
Self-assessment tools

The guide 'Expanding Women's Financial Inclusion in Mexico' represents a strong step toward the adoption of a gender perspective in financial institutions. By providing clear guidelines, we drive not only gender equality within the sector, but also open new business opportunities for institutions, recognizing the historical barriers that have limited women's access to both leadership positions and financial services.

— Karina Villanueva Aritzmendi, Director of Gender, Inclusion and Financial Education at the Banking, Securities and Savings Unit, Ministry of Finance

Mexico's journey advancing women's financial inclusion materials

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