The Unbankables: Fintech’s Missing Billion-Dollar Market

Over 1.4 billion people around the world still don’t have access to a bank account. If you’re a woman without a bank account, a farmer without rainfall data, or a refugee without an ID, you’re not a minor. You’re not invisible. You’re simply unrecognized by systems that weren’t designed for you. But you are bankable.

by Florence Kim

Visual concept by Florence Kim and generated by Midjourney

Over 1.4 billion people around the world still don’t have access to a bank account. That’s not just a data point: it’s a daily roadblock. It means no safe place to save money, no easy way to get paid, no way to send or receive funds, and no formal record of financial identity.

And if we’re honest, many of these people are still treated economically, legally and digitally as minors. I remember trying to pay a woman who’d done essential work for me. She smiled and said, “I don’t have a bank account, but my husband does.” As if that were normal. This happened in Europe, not a war zone. It reminded me that in France (not centuries ago but until 1965) women weren’t allowed to open a bank account without their husband’s permission. That kind of exclusion didn’t disappear. It just changed forms: algorithmic biases, paperwork barriers, or simply not being recognized by the system at all.

But I’ve also seen what’s possible when fintech meets people where they are.

In places like northern Mali and Chad, even without infrastructure, people are building financial ecosystems with tools that most of us would call outdated. SIM cards, USSD codes, and airtime credits are powering transactions. People pay bills, save money, and transfer funds: all without stepping into a bank. It’s not about shiny apps. It’s about tools that work.

And in places where trust is more valuable than infrastructure like displacement camps or remote farming regions, digital wallets could become lifelines. Imagine a system that doesn’t require a passport or permanent address, just a secure digital ID. That wallet could receive humanitarian cash instead of rations, store savings, or enable blockchain-based remittances that reduce fees and fraud. This is already being tested from Kenya to Ukraine.

What if that same wallet sent weather alerts to pastoralists or triggered micro-insurance payouts based on drought forecasts?. And it’s already happening. Index-based insurance models now pay farmers automatically when rainfall drops below a certain threshold: no paperwork, no negotiations, just a dignified payout. That’s climate-smart finance. And it changes everything: from what smallholder farmers plant to how they survive the next storm.

But let’s be clear: these aren't charity models. They’re scalable, sustainable innovations.

And the private sector has everything to gain by taking them seriously.

This so-called “unbanked” population? It’s not unreachable: it’s untapped. That’s a billion new users waiting not for handouts, but for smart, safe, trust-based financial services that reflect their realities. Investing in this market means:

• Designing tools that drive customer loyalty through relevance and respect.

• Opening up entirely new sectors of product innovation (like low-bandwidth banking or ID-secure micro-loans).

• Leading with ethical innovation, at a time when consumer trust is more fragile than ever.

But this potential comes with a warning. Fintech, like any tool, can be twisted. Biometric databases with no opt-out. ID systems that collapse when connectivity fails. Digital trails that enable surveillance, not support. Inclusion without safeguards isn’t inclusion, it’s risk. And risk, left unchecked, becomes exclusion in a new form.

We need to flip the script.

Because if you’re a woman without a bank account, a farmer without rainfall data, or a refugee without an ID, you’re not a minor. You’re not invisible. You’re simply unrecognized by systems that weren’t designed for you. But you are bankable. In fact, you may be fintech’s most important future market. Let’s build systems that don’t just include: they adapt. Let’s make room for innovation that’s not just smart, but fair. And let’s stop calling 1.4 billion people a margin.

They’re the core we’ve been missing.