2025 Public Sector Perspectives

Kyla Gineitis Head of Impact for Citi Social Finance Jorge Rubio Nava Global Head of Social Finance Financing Women in Emerging Markets: Citi’s Gender Focused Investing Strategy T he World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 134 years to achieve global gender parity. 1 The World Bank estimates that if gender parity were to be achieved it would add a 20% boost in global GDP to the global economic system 2 . Financial Inclusion is one of the strongest tools for advancing economic parity in lines with SDGs. The World Bank’s Findex 2022 3 report identifies that only 71% of adults in emerging economies have access to a bank account in 2021, with the gender gap in account ownership at 6%. When financial inclusion is focused on women, the finance sector can target SDG 5 by providing access to finance and financial empowerment for women to achieve gender equality. To Expand Citi’s reach to the very last mile in emerging economies, and support women in Citi’s footprint, the first step is a gender focused investment strategy. How does the industry define what constitutes an investment in women? To develop greater intentionality in our business, aligned with industry standards andmetrics, Citi joined the 2Xmovement as a partner. The 2X Challenge was launched in 2018 at the G7 summit as a commitment between global government development institutions and multilateral finance institutions with the goal of investing $3 BN in the world’s women. Since then, the institution has crafted the 2X Criteria 4 , the world’s foremost definitions of how to select and invest in women focused opportunities especially in emerging economies. The 2X Criteria set the parameters for how to identify and frame a gender focused investment across sectors. The six point criteria can be used as a tool by the private sector to evaluate new and existing investments for gender impact. 1 World Economic ForumGender Gap Report 2024 Global Gender Gap Report 2024 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org) 2 World Bank Women, Business and the Law Women, Business, and the Law 2024 (worldbank.org) 3 World Bank Global Findex 2021 Data (worldbank.org) 4 2X Criteria 2X Criteria—2X Challenge Citi Perspectives for the Public Sector 15