2026 Women’s Financial Inclusion Scorecard Data Collection

PART 1: Introduction

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), in collaboration with the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), is pleased to launch the second round of the Women’s Financial Inclusion Scorecard. Building on the strong engagement and insights from the first reporting cycle, this round focuses on deepening progress and strengthening actionable outcomes across Ethiopia’s financial sector.

The Scorecard is a structured tool that enables financial institutions to:

• -- Measure and monitor women’s inclusion across leadership, workforce, and clients
• -- Use gender-disaggregated data to inform product strategy and institutional planning
• -- Identify opportunities to design and scale solutions tailored to women
• -- Track progress against Ethiopia’s national financial inclusion goals

The Scorecard remains a learning and improvement with the goal of encouraging sector-wide advancement through transparency and accountability.

The results of the first reporting cycle showed strong representation of women on boards and in senior leadership at some financial institutions alongside promising but uneven levels of women’s financial access and usage. The findings also highlighted that financial innovation targeted at women remains nascent and requires deeper understanding and greater investment. To accelerate progress, the second reporting cycle places a stronger emphasis on women-centered product and service innovation and delivery, assessing whether improvements in gender-disaggregated data systems and the adoption of gender-inclusive strategies are translating into measurable outcomes.

For the second, institutions are expected to submit gender-disaggregated data across leadership, workforce, and client dimensions, provide brief explanations for any observed changes, and, where possible, submit supporting documentation to validate the data provided.

PART 2: Data Reporting Form

Instructions:

The 2026 Women’s Financial Inclusion Scorecard cycle aims to assess year-over-year progress, identify persistent constraints, and strengthen inclusive finance practices across the financial sector.

Accordingly, financial institutions are expected to report gender-disaggregated data across all indicators between 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Institutions should ensure the accuracy of submitted data and provide brief contextual explanations and relevant supporting documentation where necessary.

The deadline for submission of the data reporting form is March 31 .

Definition: A formal or integrated strategy outlining the institution’s objectives and priorities related to gender inclusion and equity, either as a standalone document or embedded within broader institutional strategies.

Definition: Leadership roles with strategic decision-making authority including Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Vice Presidents, Directors or equivalents.

Note: Refers to any senior executive officer who:

• -- Is chief executive officer or managing director.
• -- Manages one or more departments or directorates and is directly reporting to the chief executive officer or managing director.
• -- Reports directly to the board of directors.
• -- Is company secretary

Definition: Structured programs designed to build management, leadership, or decision-making capabilities among employees, with the objective of preparing participants for increased responsibility or leadership roles.

Note: Adapted to be more in line with ESG standards around women's participation, as a percentage of their workforce eligibility representation. Not specific women targeted stand-alone trainings.

21. Please provide the following information for the most recent completed leadership development, training, or mentoring program cycle.

Definitions:

Transaction accounts include current/demand and savings accounts.

Digital Financial Services (DFS) accounts include accounts accessed through digital channels, such as mobile money, mobile banking, internet banking, and card-initiated ATM and POS transactions.

Accounts include both individual and business accounts. A women-owned business is defined as a business with at least 51% female ownership, or at least 20% female ownership and a female top manager.

We recognize that some financial institutions may not systematically capture the gender of business account holders and may therefore be unable to comprehensively report the number of business accounts owned by women.

Note: There may be overlap in reporting transaction accounts that are also accessed through digital channels.

All Accounts

Active Accounts

Definition of Traditional Credit: Traditional loans where credit decisions rely primarily on formal collateral and standardized creditworthiness assessments (e.g., audited financials, collateral valuation, or third-party guarantees).

Note: Traditional loans also include Islamic finance/sharia compliant products.

Definition of Women-Specific Products: Tailored financial products for women e.g. credit, savings, payments, insurance, remittances targeted at women clients.

Definition of Innovative Credit: Non-traditional or technology-enabled lending solutions that use alternative data, alternative collateral, digital channels, or novel risk-sharing structures. e.g. digital microcredit / nano-loans, cash flow–based lending, revenue-based financing, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), psychometric credit scoring, remittance-linked loans, credit guaranteed via inventory, purchase orders, movable collateral (excluding vehicles) or supplier relationships etc.