How to Implement
Guidance
Aim for gender balance in Scheme leadership and staff.
The Scheme aims for not just token participation, but gender-balanced representation at all levels of the organization, including leadership (executive, board, and advisory levels) and staff. A gender-balanced Scheme will reflect the gender demographics of its market.
Insist on women’s voice in decision making.
In leadership positions, the Scheme insists that women leaders have actual authority, not symbolic roles. This means voting power on boards, leadership over key portfolios, influence over strategic direction not just corporate social responsibility (CSR) and gender equity programs.
Codify inclusive institutional culture.
The Scheme codifies policies and practices that ensure leadership pathways are accessible to women.
Provide structural mechanisms for women’s inclusion.
The Scheme may set targets to increase inclusion of women in boards, senior management, and teams throughout the organization.
Why It Matters
Representative leadership results in improved system and ecosystem outcomes. improved commercial and social returns, greater innovation, improved risk management, governance, and crisis resilience.
Seeing More Clearly
Select a lens to learn the “why” this practice.
Women’s Inclusion
Women’s meaningful participation in Scheme and DFSP leadership roles has demonstrated returns that benefit the ecosystem. These include greater Scheme and DFSP scale and sustainability, increased product and service innovation, higher institutional resilience, ecosystem financial stability, and higher financial and social returns on investment.
Tools
Design Guides
Dig into how to implement each of the practices.
Minimum Branding Guidelines
Overview of select features that constitute minimum branding guidelines, namely in-app logo placement, logo repetition, and point-of-sale experience requirements.
Review Minimum Branding GuidelinesAim for Common, Consumer-Facing Brand
Overview of potential brand design choices for Inclusive IPSs, alongside implications and representative examples from the market.
Review Aim for Common, Consumer-Facing BrandAlternative Opportunities for Schemes to Solicit Feedback
Description of less formal alternatives to consumer forums that Inclusive IPSs can use to solicit feedback from women end-users.
Review Alternative Opportunities for Schemes to Solicit FeedbackCriteria for Selecting Women-Centered Consumer Groups to Inform Inclusive IPS Design and Feedback
Description of mechanisms for ensuring that consumer group engagement in the Inclusive IPS design process is representative of the diversity of women end users.
Review Criteria for Selecting Women-Centered Consumer Groups to Inform Inclusive IPS Design and FeedbackWho to Invite to a Consumer Forum
List of potential participants in an Inclusive IPS consumer forum.
Review Who to Invite to a Consumer ForumGovernance Structure for Inclusive IPS Consumer Forum
Overview of a potential governance structure for an Inclusive IPS consumer forum.
Review Governance Structure for Inclusive IPS Consumer ForumConsumer Forums Provide a Formal Mechanism to Embed Voices of End-Users
Description of benefits of consumer forums in ensuring that women’s voices are included in ongoing design feedback, alongside examples of such forums in the market.
Review Consumer Forums Provide a Formal Mechanism to Embed Voices of End-UsersApproaches to Ensuring Representative and Diverse Leadership in the Inclusive IPS Ecosystem
Overview of strategies Inclusive IPSs can deploy to increase the share of women in leadership.
Review Approaches to Ensuring Representative and Diverse Leadership in the Inclusive IPS EcosystemGeneric payments scheme rulebook categories and example table of contents
A generic scheme rules that IIPS operators can use to build their own rulebook
Review Generic payments scheme rulebook categories and example table of contentsPractitioner’s Guide to Payments Scheme Governance and Financial Inclusion
A practical guide to payment scheme governance, outlining key considerations, structure types, and best practices to ensure financial inclusion within digital financial systems, with actionable…
Review Practitioner’s Guide to Payments Scheme Governance and Financial InclusionMarket Illustrations
Learn from design choices in action.
Bre-B (Colombia) Standardizes Brand and Experience to Improve Trust in the Central Bank Brand
Country
Colombia
Challenge
Banco de la República wished to establish brand guidelines on where and how to use the Bre-B logo to ensure its prominence and clear visibility to users.
Outcome
These strong guidelines, which highlight the overlap between brand and user interface, and enablement of the brand by the Central Bank help define an ecosystem of dependability and trust.
UPI’s Common Brand Ensures Consistency and Builds Trust
Country
India
Challenge
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) wished to establish a clear and consistent brand across UPI and the associated BHIM payment service as the operator of UPI in order to increase trust in and adoption of UPI.
Outcome
The UPI brand is widely recognized and adoption of UPI enabled payments is high and continues to grow.
Banco Central do Brasil Offers Guidance, and Flexibility, in Deploying the Pix Brand
Country
Brazil
Challenge
Banco Central do Brasil committed to improving the visibility of the Pix brand across a diverse ecosystem of digital providers and digital and physical merchants while ensuring consistency.
Outcome
Pix’s brand is well-recognized in Brazil and associated with a trustworthy, innovative payments ecosystem.
Brazil’s Pix Forum – A Multi-Stakeholder Convening to Inform Design
Country
Brazil
Challenge
In preparation for the launch of Pix in November 2020, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) faced the complexity of designing an instant payment infrastructure that could serve a wide range of users—including individuals, businesses, and government entities.
Outcome
Members of the Forum have lauded its usefulness, and the Forum remains active today, continuing to inform Pix design.
Bank of Etihad’s Holistic Approach to Increase Women’s Representation in Jordan
Country
Jordan
Challenge
Jordan had a low female labor force participation rate of just 14%, which affected both staffing at financial institutions and depressed demand for financial services themselves.
Outcome
The bank’s initiatives yielded significant outcomes since its launch in 2014, with positive impacts across its board, workforce, and client base.
Bank of Tanzania Circular Promotes Women’s Participation on Boards
Country
Tanzania
Challenge
Despite progress in expanding financial inclusion in Tanzania, gender disparities remained pronounced in the leadership structures of banks and financial institutions. This imbalance posed both an ethical and economic challenge.
Outcome
This directive positions Tanzania as a regional leader in embedding gender equity into financial sector governance through concrete targets, timelines, and regulatory oversight. Initial results suggest promising trends in adoption.
Nigeria Promotes Women’s Leadership in the Banking Sector
Country
Nigeria
Challenge
In 2012, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recognized a persistent gender imbalance in the leadership of the banking sector.
Outcome
As a direct result of a 2012 circular promoting a culture to support women’s leaders and concrete targets for women’s leadership in the financial sector, the Nigeria banking ecosystem successfully implemented all but one of the direct and environmental methods to increase the overall pipeline and percentage of women in Board and Leadership positions of Banks.
Related Resources
From the Community
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