Anne Pieckielon/The Inclusion Foundation
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Fintech charity launches to help financially vulnerable
The Inclusion Foundation hopes to help financially vulnerable people gain access to services and become more financially literate.
The Inclusion Foundation (TIF), a fintech-based charity, has launched to help protect the most financially vulnerable people in the UK.
The charity, which officially launched yesterday, says it will help give the UK’s 13m under-served adults better access to financial services.
According to research conducted by TIF, over 1.2m of the UK’s most financially vulnerable do not have access to a bank account and struggle to pay and get paid—a problem that is only being made worse by the lockdown.
Anne Pieckielon, CEO of The Inclusion Foundation, said: "The lack of a bank account typically costs each individual affected somewhere in the region of £485 per year,” something the charity is hoping to tackle by making payment facilities more widely available.
TIF offers those in need support through several programmes, namely SignpostNow, a comparison website for the financially vulnerable and the Inclusion Signpost, a badge that financial services can display on their websites to show they offer products for those in need.
In addition to this, TIF also provides education and support through the Inclusion Academy, which is aimed at increasing financial literacy.
Neil Harris, chair of The Inclusion Foundation, said: “As one of the world’s most progressive, diverse and inclusive nations, we have let the most vulnerable fall through the cracks for far too long, and leading the world in financial innovation and fintech, the UK has every opportunity to ensure that there is financial service provision for every need.”
The charity also estimates that financial inclusion could potentially unlock £1.8bn in benefits for low-income households.
