Digital finance has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade, playing a key role in ushering in a new era of financial access. The World Bank’s Global Findex finds that 79% of adults globally now have a financial account, up from 51% in 2011.
While new digital tools have lowered barriers to accessing the financial system and opened new pathways to economic stability, they have also exposed consumers to new risks.
The next phase of financial inclusion should not focus on access alone, but should also ensure individuals have the right tools and protections needed to build long-term financial resilience.
Today’s investors need better advice and protections in two key areas: navigating the growing availability of complex financial products and guarding against widespread fraud and scams.
Technology, investing and financial advice
Retail investing is growing worldwide, with younger generations entering markets earlier. The 2024 Global Retail Investor Outlook found that 30% of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) began investing during university or early adulthood, compared to previous generations – 15% of millennials, 9% of Gen X and 6% of baby boomers. This increased participation creates new opportunities for individuals to build wealth and secure their financial futures.
Individual investors have expanded access not just to where they can invest, but also to the products they can invest in. Tech has made it far easier to invest in more complex products such as derivatives, crypto and other assets. Today, 20% of Gen Z investors invest in derivatives versus only 7% of so-called baby boomers.
While more complex products often offer the possibility of higher returns, they also require greater understanding of liquidity and potential losses and may not be suitable for many investors. Quality financial advice is needed to appropriately navigate these risks. Yet access to advice, especially high-quality advice, is lacking.
Professional financial advice tends to be prohibitively expensive and less available in emerging markets. For example, high net-worth investors are nearly two times as likely to use a financial adviser as mass-market investors. In fast-growing markets such as India, the number of retail investors greatly outnumbers the number of registered investment advisers.
Expanding broader access to financial advice is particularly important given that only 38% of adults using online financial services meet the OECD’s minimum digital financial literacy standards, highlighting the need for greater support in navigating digital finance.
This advice gap matters even more in markets where investors rely heavily on informal digital channels. In Thailand, respondents to a recent World Economic Forum (WEF) survey were twice as likely as the global average to turn to social media or online communities for investing advice, at 44% compared with 22% globally.
When the same online channels that can help people access financial information can also expose them to misinformation, scams and unsuitable products, robust financial education is needed to make informed financial decisions.
Digital tools and financial fraud
The same technologies that give consumers more financial choice are also giving scammers more ways to reach them. Across ASEAN, the share of consumers who say they have ever been scammed rose from 31% to 43% between 2024 and 2025, while 67% of consumers in South-East Asia say they are very worried about scams.
This matters not only because of the financial losses victims of scams experience, but also because these experiences can weaken the trust on which financial systems depend.
Concern about the security of systems is particularly visible in Thailand. In a recent WEF survey, 49% of Thai respondents cited platform security features such as fraud monitoring or identity verification as a key factor shaping trust in financial services, compared with 31% globally.
Financial inclusion is therefore not just about access, but also about equipping individuals with the knowledge to understand financial products and identify which platforms, products and sources of advice are safe and trustworthy.
Tech as part of the solution
While tech creates new exposure to financial risk and fraud, it can also be part of the solution. Tech can be used to continue expanding financial access while also helping individuals participate safely in digital finance.
For example, AI can help users better understand financial products and allow for follow-up queries to help personalize guidance based on an investor’s own goals and risk appetite. Still, the success of AI advisers will depend on the right safeguards being in place for users. Ideally, these tools would include guardrails around transparency, disclosures around conflicts of interest, and clear options to contact a human adviser when needed.
Another way tech can play a role in supporting financial literacy is by integrating advice touchpoints into apps consumers already use. For example, Grab, South-East Asia’s largest rideshare and food delivery provider, has integrated financial literacy modules into its app for gig workers. Similar efforts could be implemented for other apps, such as buy now, pay later, investment, or other payment apps to support financial decision-making at the point of service.
But technology alone is not enough. Government action in combating financial crime and implementing regulation that enables responsible investing are also important factors in ensuring investors feel protected. Additionally, financial education, stronger consumer protections and coordinated public-private action are all needed to help people participate safely in digital finance.
The IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok provide an opportunity to reframe inclusion from access to access plus literacy and protection. Public and private sector leaders can work together to continue to offer broadened access to financial products while protecting against tech-enabled fraud and investment risks.
This article was originally published in Thai by The Standard here.
