This award recognises an initiative that has made significant strides in promoting financial inclusion for underserved or excluded communities through payment solutions. The award celebrates innovative approaches that have leveraged technology, brand, channels, or other capabilities to deliver valuable solutions to specific problems or opportunities posed.

The Impactful Financial Inclusion Payments model is open to any payment program that aims to enhance digital access by connecting underserved and excluded populations to formal financial services. These services should be affordable for customers and economically sustainable for providers.

The initiative can use mobile or physical tokens and may include agency networks and small trader acceptance.

The entrant may be the initiative operator/manager, the technology provider, or financial institution/partner. The initiative must be live and out of the testing phase at the time of submission. Pilot programs will be accepted but must be clearly described as such, and the judges will look for evidence of success in the pilot.

Entry eligibility  

• The initiative or solution must be operating in one or several Asia Pacific markets. 

To make a submission please provide the following information:

Nominee or nominator

• Entry name
• Name of nominating organisation 
• Name(s) of nominated organisation(s) 
• The nature of the business relationship between you as the nominator and the nominee company’s solution description 

Submission format

Your entry is done digitally via APAC Payments Excellence Awards Website, by submitting a written description of your value proposition/solution/initiative using selected category criteria. 

Each criteria in your submission will be evaluated and scored by judges in your Category Judge Panel. Each criteria have a 300-word limit. Provide as much information as you can and quote the source of that information, to describe the solution, success measures and what was achieved. Note that no attachments are allowed, and website links will not be seen as part of a submission.

Impactful Financial Inclusion Payments model Judge Criteria

Describe your financial inclusion model initiative under each criteria section.

1. Solution Description

Describe your financial inclusion payment model and its key features? How does it address the needs of the financially excluded or underserved population? Does your model have a unique selling point, and if so, what is it? Include your problem statement, goals set, target audience and the geographic location of the initiative.

2. Value Delivery

How does your initiative provide value to its customers and consumers? Can you provide examples of how it has improved financial payment inclusion and financial payments literacy among its users? What sets your solution apart from other financial inclusion models currently in use?

3. Impact and Result on Financial Inclusion

What impact has your model had on financial inclusion, and how has this been measured? Have you seen an increase in financial access, usage, and knowledge among your target population? How has your initiative contributed to the broader financial inclusion agenda in your region or country? Provide measures and result.

4. Future Prognosis

What are your plans for the future of your financial inclusion payment model? How do you plan to scale up and expand your reach? Are there any upcoming developments or features that you would like to highlight?

Evidence of success – metrics 

Please provide as much information as you can and quote the source of that information. Such information might include the following, but this is not an exhaustive list and, in each case, the judges will be looking for evidence that supports your claims about the key benefits of the initiative/solution/process: 

• Initiative duration: Length of time the initiative has been live since launch to February 2023.
• User count: Number of users who have utilised the solution since launching until February 2023.
• Volume metrics: Relevant metrics such as payments, transactions, or remittances since launch until February 2023.
• Growth and transformation: Historical growth in usage, as well as extrapolated projections for future growth, and evidence of how the solution has transformed the user experience. 

Please note that data is treated confidentially and not disclosed outside the immediate Category Judging Panel and the APAC Payments Excellence Award team.

Innovative definition 

To be defined as innovative we are looking for the creation, development and implementation of a new product, process, or service, which has improved efficiency, effectiveness, access or competitive advantage. The entry is detailing something totally new or has a new approach to an existing challenge.