Instant Payments and Financial Inclusion: an analytical framework and research agenda

This article examines how the academic and technical literature has addressed the relationship between instant payment systems and financial inclusion. Despite the rapid global expansion of these systems and their growing relevance in policy debates, their inclusive potential remains insufficiently systematized. The study conducts a structured literature review aimed at organizing the state of the art on this relationship. The analysis combines a systematic examination of academic publications with the review of institutional and technical documents, focusing on the main dimensions through which instant payments have been conceptualized. The findings indicate a predominant emphasis on institutional arrangements, system design, and adoption dynamics, while social and distributive impacts remain comparatively underexplored. Based on this synthesis, the article proposes an analytical framework that integrates these dimensions and identifies relevant gaps and avenues for future research on the role of instant payments in financial inclusion.