Expanding the use of digital payments such as mobile money and electronic transfers in developing countries could spur economic growth and ease income inequality, while advancing towards the G20’s goal to bring financial services to an estimated 2.5 billion adults who are excluded from the formal banking sector.Building on a telecoms revolution that has connected many of the world’s poor people to mobile banking services, a report published on Thursday argues that governments in the G20 should target digital payments as a way to help people access basic banking facilities, which it says will encourage saving while reducing theft and corruption.The report – The Opportunities of Digitising Payments (pdf) – by the World Bank’s development research group, the Better Than Cash Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, says: “Rapid development and extension of digital platforms and digital payments can provide the speed, security, transparency and cost efficiency needed to increase financial inclusion at the scale required to achieve G20 goals.”