Digital banking has become the default for millions, yet not for everyone. As financial services race to digitize, a large part of the population is still being left behind.
Globally, about 1.3 billion people, or 16 percent of the world’s population, live with significant disability. Many of those people cannot fully use digital financial services unless those services are intentionally designed to be accessible.
In the U.K., nearly 87 percent of adults use online or mobile banking. In India, UPI and other digital payment systems process billions of transactions per month. In the U.S., 60–77 percent of consumers regularly use mobile or online banking. The shift is almost universal but accessibility hasn’t kept pace.
The Fiscal Upside Banks Cannot Ignore
Accessibility is not just a compliance goal; it’s an untapped economic opportunity. Financial institutions that design inclusive digital experiences stand to gain from a massive, often overlooked customer base with significant spending power.
Trillions in Disposable Income
The Global Economics of Disability 2024 report finds that consumers with disabilities in North America and Europe alone control over $2.6 trillion in disposable income. Globally, households that include people with disabilities control an estimated $18 trillion in spending power. In the United Kingdom, this number is estimated at £274 billion per year, which is the combined spending power of households including people with disabilities.
The financial scale of the cost of exclusion is a lot. This is something which can be easily prevented by staying ahead of the curve when it comes to accessibility, at least.
The Cost of Exclusion
Every inaccessible form, poorly labelled button, or blocked transaction erodes revenue, adds operational strain, and weakens brand trust. Digital exclusion is no longer an abstract social issue; it is a quantifiable financial loss for banks and economies.
Lost revenue and conversion gaps
Accessibility gaps directly translate to missed business. A 2025 WebAIM report found that 96 percent of homepages across industries still fail basic accessibility checks, and financial services are no exception. When a payment form cannot be navigated with a keyboard or read by a screen reader, users abandon the process altogether.
Industry analyses by accessibility consultancies show that these breakdowns can cost millions in lost transactions annually for large consumer-facing banks.
Operational and support costs
Inaccessible design doesn’t only drive customers away; it also increases internal costs. Every time a user with a disability must call or visit a branch to complete an online process, it triggers additional manual work, verification delays, and call-center loads. Accessible design also reduces the risk of compliance-related service interruptions and customer complaints, both of which consume time and legal resources.
Broader economic drag
The cost of digital exclusion extends beyond individual institutions. The World Bank estimates that economic exclusion and underemployment of people with disabilities can cost countries up to 3 – 7 percent of GDP. That loss compounds when people are unable to access essential financial tools like loans, insurance, or digital payments.
In India, where digital transactions now number in the billions each month, even a small participation gap among people with disabilities represents tens of millions of lost transactions and, by extension, lost growth in the wider financial ecosystem.
In the U.K., studies on the “Purple Pound” show that businesses collectively lose around £420 million a week by failing to serve disabled customers effectively. Financial institutions that neglect accessibility not only lose revenue themselves but also weaken the financial inclusion agenda that underpins national economic growth.
Exclusion is expensive. It multiplies costs across lost sales, inflated support, compliance risk, and reputational damage. Inclusion, on the other hand, compounds gains, improving customer satisfaction, conversion, and long-term trust.
Legal and litigation risks
Regulatory pressure and litigation have turned digital accessibility from a reputational concern into a material legal and financial risk for financial services providers. The examples below show why banks and fintechs must act now.
United States
Digital accessibility litigation in the U.S. remains prolific and costly. Thousands of website and app suits are filed each year against companies across sectors, including financial services. Plaintiffs typically rely on the Americans with Disabilities Act to argue that inaccessible digital services deny people equal access to goods and services. Defendants can face settlement and remediation bills that range from the low five figures to six figures or more, once legal fees and technical fixes are included.
The Domino’s Pizza case remains a landmark. After a blind plaintiff sued because he could not order via the website or app, the Supreme Court declined to hear Domino’s appeal and left in place lower-court rulings that reinforced the legal risk for consumer-facing digital services.
Why this matters for banks: litigation risk translates to direct legal costs, mandatory remediation, and operational disruption. Proactive accessibility reduces the chance of suits and the cost of reactive fixes.
European Union
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) set a harmonized legal floor for accessibility across EU member states, and enforcement activity grew after the June 2025 implementation deadline. For digital products and services, compliance with EN 301 549 is the common technical route to show conformance. Banks that fail to align with EAA requirements risk national enforcement actions, fines, and market limitations across multiple jurisdictions. Practical guidance for financial services emphasizes conformance testing, vendor contracts that require accessible components, and documentation showing continuous remediation.
Why this matters for banks: Cross-border banks must avoid a patchwork approach. Harmonized compliance and documented conformance reduce enforcement exposure and simplify procurement.
United Kingdom
The Equality Act 2010 provides the legal framework for non-discrimination in the U.K., while public sector apps and websites are explicitly covered by the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations. Private financial firms are exposed through consumer complaints, regulatory attention, and reputational harm. Historic UK cases show courts and tribunals ordering remedies and damages where services were inaccessible; banks have faced both litigation and regulatory scrutiny for physical and digital accessibility failures.
Why this matters for banks: even absent large statutory fines, reputational harm and remedial costs can be significant. Public sector standards often become the baseline expectation for private providers.
India
India’s legal posture on digital accessibility has shifted decisively. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016) sets rights for persons with disabilities, and recent Supreme Court directions have framed access to essential digital services, such as e-KYC, as a constitutional concern. Following that judicial momentum, securities and banking regulators have moved to mandate accessibility for regulated entities.
In 2025, SEBI issued circulars and guidance requiring regulated entities to comply with national and international accessibility standards, and bodies such as the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities have begun enforcing standards and issuing penalties against non-compliant websites. These developments show enforcement is moving from aspirational to mandatory.
Why this matters for banks: mandated audits, documented remediation plans, and accessible KYC flows are now regulatory expectations. Non-compliance can trigger fines, operational orders, and public enforcement.
Product strategies that deliver
Turning accessibility from a compliance checklist into a design principle requires strategy, not slogans. Banks that embed inclusive thinking into every customer journey see higher engagement, fewer drop-offs, and stronger trust.
Inclusive authentication and onboarding
For many users, the first barrier appears at the login screen. Authentication systems must protect security and maintain usability for everyone.
Key practices:
- Provide multiple authentication modes such as OTP via SMS or email, secure password managers, biometric sign-ins, and voice-based verification for users with low vision or motor impairments.
- Replace CAPTCHAs with risk-based authentication or invisible reCAPTCHA v3. Traditional image-based CAPTCHAs block blind and low-vision users who rely on screen readers.
- Design biometric prompts with accessibility cues such as audio feedback, haptic vibration, or text instructions.
- Simplify onboarding forms so users can complete KYC, account setup, and consent flows without external assistance.
Accessible forms and transactions
Financial forms and transactional flows are where accessibility often fails and where fixes deliver instant ROI.
Key practices:
- Use semantic HTML and clear form labels so screen readers can announce each field correctly.
- Provide inline error messages with text explanations rather than color cues alone.
- Maintain a logical focus order so keyboard users can navigate without losing context.
- Include skip links and ARIA landmarks for repetitive sections like navigation menus.
- Ensure that real-time validation does not break screen-reader continuity.
Governance and metrics that sustain progress
Sporadic fixes fade over time. Sustainable accessibility in financial services needs structure, accountability, and measurement.
Governance framework:
- Assign an Accessibility Owner for every digital product line with authority to escalate fixes and track compliance.
- Create a central accessibility dashboard that tracks progress across apps, websites, ATMs, and kiosks.
- Embed accessibility checkpoints into agile sprints and QA cycles instead of treating them as post-launch audits.
- Train cross-functional teams, be they product managers, QA testers, and UX writers, to identify accessibility blockers early.
Metrics to track:
- Accessibility score: blend automated scanning with manual testing using screen readers like NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.
- Abandonment rate for assistive technology users: track completion gaps between general and AT users.
- Remediation velocity: Average days to fix accessibility bugs.
- Accessibility NPS (aNPS): Customer satisfaction rating from users with disabilities.
Accessible banking products are not just ethical or compliant; they are efficient, resilient, and profitable.
When teams bake accessibility into authentication, forms, and governance, they reduce churn, improve customer experience, and future-proof against legal and regulatory risks.
What to do next?
The data proves the market size. The laws show regulatory urgency. The cost of exclusion highlights real losses.
Banks that act now unlock new markets, reduce legal risk, and build stronger brands. Accessibility is not a side project. It is infrastructure for growth. Run an automated accessibility audit using free tools like our own Color Contrast checker or Google’s Lighthouse. Start small, measure results, and expand systematically.
You can also consider getting in touch with professionals. Whether you’re building an accessibility program from scratch or strengthening one that already exists, our certified experts can help. We provide end-to-end digital accessibility services that make your platforms more inclusive and compliant.
Get in touch with us today to start building lasting accessibility into your digital experiences.