Deadline Date: May 22, 2026
The Trust by Design Fintech Challenge recognizes organizations developing fintech solutions that improve safety, transparency, and trust in financial services, particularly for women who have traditionally been excluded from financial systems.
The Challenge focuses on digitally enabled financial solutions, safety and transparency in financial services, trust-centered fintech innovation, customer-centric product design, responsible safeguards, measurable improvements in safety and trust, gender-disaggregated data, women’s financial inclusion, customer protection, risk management, financial functionality embedded into platforms, and expansion into emerging markets and LMIC contexts.
The initiative seeks market-tested solutions that demonstrate how data-driven approaches and customer-focused product design can strengthen trust, reduce harm, and improve adoption among women users. The Challenge is intended for organizations with live, in-market solutions rather than early-stage pilots or prototypes.
Eligible applicants may include fintech companies such as lenders and neobanks, financial institutions and microfinance institutions, technology providers supporting financial services, and platforms embedding financial products including payments, savings, credit, or insurance. Organizations applying should already offer digitally enabled financial services or financial functionality integrated into their products or platforms.
Applicants are expected to demonstrate measurable improvements in safety, transparency, or customer trust through their solutions. Strong applications will show how gender-disaggregated data is being used to improve product design, customer protection, and risk management practices. Organizations should also provide evidence of active usage by women customers and demonstrate traction in the market.
The Challenge is open to organizations operating in at least one emerging market or those with credible plans to expand into low- and middle-income country contexts. Credible expansion plans may include operational strategies, partnerships, licensing pathways, or active deployments that demonstrate the organization’s ability to serve customers in these markets.
Selected winners will receive financial awards and gain recognition as innovators in trust-centered fintech. The competition will award one Grand Prize of $50,000 along with three finalist awards of $10,000 each. In addition to financial support, winners will receive visibility with investors and the broader financial services industry through curated events, showcases, and publications.
For more information, visit Accion.
