Can Trust Be Automated As Innovation Reshapes Financial Empowerment?
Can Trust Be Automated As Innovation Reshapes Financial Empowerment?
Publish Date: 2026-06-23 09:00:00
Source Domain: www.forbes.com
As mobile technology and AI evolve, automation is helping expand financial trust, access and opportunity worldwide.
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For centuries, trust has been the invisible infrastructure of every financial system. Banks, investment firms, insurance companies, regulators and even currencies themselves exist because people collectively believe promises will be kept. Yet today, that foundation is being both challenged and strengthened by artificial intelligence.
In some countries, financial inclusion — the basic idea of having a banking account that makes it easier for people to save and grow their money — is a given. However, as the World Bank Group reports, over 1.4 billion adults globally remain unbanked.
Saving money is not the only challenge for people who lack this basic level of financial inclusion. A lack of banking access can make it harder to receive payments for work, to easily pay bills or to gain access to credit and loan programs. Without financial inclusion, many would-be entrepreneurs, particularly in developing nations, are shut out from critical opportunities.
Why?
This level of financial access signals a certain level of trust and professionalism that is necessary for business owners seeking funding assistance. Fortunately, growing trends in inclusion-focused innovation are helping to remove barriers and expand opportunities by facilitating trust and access.
Mobile Devices Driving Financial Inclusion
The proliferation of smartphones has gone a long way in promoting financial inclusion — in fact, the World Bank Group found that 84% of adults in low to medium-income countries owned a mobile phone.
The big reason smartphones are driving financial inclusion? They provide access to financial apps and information that might otherwise remain completely inaccessible.
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