news - New Research: growing business case for financing refugees

Today at the conference Finance for Refugees, NpM - Platform for Inclusive Finance will launch a research paper that provides a brief overview of the global potential market scope of refugees. Across borders, refugee customers of financial institution perform as well or better than nationals in terms of loan repayment.

With nearly 28.4 million refugees, the migrant crisis is one of the most urgent and compelling realities affecting the world. Affordable access to financial services can help refugees cope with negative shocks, reduce exposure to risk, and stimulate economic activity at community levels.

Among the financially excluded populations, the financial industry has only very recently begun to recognise the specific constraints faced by people who are not citizens, and within this large group of potential clients, forcibly displaced people including refugees are often the least served. 

The support system around financial institutions, while growing, remains fragmented, and many institutions continue to be constrained by a lack of (easy) access to the information, guidance and support needed to identify, assess, and potentially serve refugees as customers.

Click here for the press release (Dutch only)

FMO and Financing Refugees

FMO  set up the NASIRA risk sharing facility. NASIRA aims to provide access to finance for promising entrepreneurs in Africa and the European neighborhood, with a focus on young, female and migrant entrepreneurs. By increasing financial inclusion for underserved parts of the population, NASIRA aims to combat the root causes and pressures of irregular migration. Read more

About the Conference Finance for Refugees

Most refugees have little to no opportunities to enter the economic system due to a lack of available financial services and thus, despite protracted displacement and residence in host countries, are unable to integrate into the economy and society. To bring this to light and work on solutions, NpM, Platform for Inclusive Finance, wants to improve capacity for providing financial services to refugees and decided to do its annual conference on the topic of ‘Finance for Refugees’. Go to conference site