Sarcouncil Journal of Economics and Business Management

Abstract: Financial exclusion is a long-standing problem, and around 1.7 billion adults are without access to formal financial services in the world today (World Bank, 2022). Although developed economies such as the US have full-fledged banking structure, there is a large percentage of unbanked or underbanked population, especially among the minority groups and in the rural areas (FDIC, 2023). This narrative review scours the evidence (2020-2024), focusing on successful global FinTech models and exploring their relevance and applicability to the U.S. landscape. We conduct a critical analysis of new developments, introduce build-out approaches, and barriers to take-up, drawing out policy issues as we go along, to draw useful comparisons to strengthen US financial inclusion policies. We systematically reviewed peer-reviewed literature, policy reports and case studies published from 2020 to date to examine mobile money, digital payment systems, alternative credit scoring, and regulatory frameworks across diverse geographies. The analysis found that there are three key FinTech models leading the charge for financial inclusion: From mobile money ecosystems (as embodied by models such as M-Pesa in Kenya), super-app platforms (the WeChat Pay/Alipay model in China) and API-driven neobanks (the approach nubank is pursing in Brazil). Critical success factors include regulatory sandboxes, interoperable payment infrastructure, and culturally sensitive user interfaces. But fast-tracking these models into the U.S. meets a tangled regulatory environment, market saturation and a set of relatively distinct socioeconomic hurdles. Although models from other countries are compelling, the success of inclusion in the U.S. will depend on hybrids of international best practices with American regulatory structures, established infrastructure and local demographics. Priority areas include rural connectivity, credit scoring innovation, and cross-sector partnerships.