Guest editorial: Poverty reduction in the FinTech age

In recent years, debates on microfinance have gravitated towards a discussion of financial inclusion and away from the role of microcredit in poverty reduction. A consensus has emerged that although microcredit may not reduce poverty, neither does it cause harm for the most part. At a minimum, access to microcredit gives people options for managing their financial lives, usually with greater predictability, privacy and dignity, while opening the door to other forms of financial service – certainly not something to be dismissed. But, now that financial inclusion (access to finance) is almost synonymous with the financial technologies (FinTech) that enable inclusion, is financial inclusion enough and what role does FinTech play?