Latest FIAP news
Three million people in Australia are severely or fully excluded from financial institutions and their banking and insurance products. Financial exclusion places people and their families at risk of financial hardships. This can lead to poverty, vulnerability to predatory lending practices and poor social, emotional and health outcomes.
In 2015 Australia committed to financial inclusion by agreeing to international obligations including the G20 Financial Inclusion Action Plan and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this commitment, the Australian Government appointed Good Shepherd Microfinance to develop a Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) program.
The FIAP program provides an opportunity for organisations to take real action to realise financial inclusion – especially for women. The program has been developed in partnership with the Australian Government, EY and the Centre for Social Impact and is also supported by an Advisory Group of experienced professionals from across the government, corporate and community sectors.
40 member organisations taking action
To date, 40 organisations have joined the FIAP program – together they employ over 250,000 people and have almost 80 percent of the Australian population as customers. Together, the FIAP Trailblazers have committed to over 630 actions to realise greater inclusion and resilience for vulnerable groups in their own sphere of influence. 87% of actions are either completed or underway, according to evaluations undertaken by EY Australia.
New Partners
The following organisations have joined the program in 2019 and are currently developing their Financial Inclusion Action Plans:
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