GINC Patents
← Capabilities
Financial Strength

Financial Inclusion & Household Access

The capacity to extend useful, affordable financial services to the whole population: accounts, payments, credit, savings and insurance within reach of every household and small firm. One of the capabilities of Financial System Depth & Access.

International families
8,5092015 to 2024
Leading country
United States3.5× the next
All families
28khome filings included
Over five years
Falling2020 to 2024 against the five before

Year by year

Patent families by country of origin and the year of the earliest filing, 2000 to 2025; 2025 is a part year, still filling in. International families are those for which protection was sought beyond one country.

Volume

International patent families in the capability, by the year of the earliest filing.

Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google

Share by country

Each country's share of the year's international families, in per cent: the capability's five largest countries of origin, 2015 to 2024, and the rest of the world.

Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google

Country leaderboard

International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by country of origin. Growth compares the latest five full years with the five before.

Ten largest

United States

South Korea

China

Japan

France

Germany

Cayman Islands

Canada

Singapore

United Kingdom

3,362

961

951

791

329

245

172

171

160

159

2000 to 2025
1United States3,36239.5%0.6×
8,003
2South Korea96111.3%0.5×
5,746
3China95111.2%0.4×
8,738
4Japan7919.3%0.9×
1,510
5France3293.9%0.5×
424
6Germany2452.9%0.9×
351
7Cayman Islands1722.0%0.0×
202
8Canada1712.0%0.7×
398
9Singapore1601.9%0.4×
188
10United Kingdom1591.9%0.6×
231
11India1181.4%0.6×
146
12Australia1091.3%0.4×
152
13Taiwan1041.2%0.6×
256
14Türkiye871.0%2.1×
134
15Switzerland821.0%0.7×
110
16Sweden770.9%1.1×
94
17Israel650.8%0.7×
95
18Netherlands630.7%0.5×
83
19Italy620.7%0.5×
109
20Hong Kong490.6%0.1×
59
21South Africa340.4%0.8×
35
22Spain310.4%0.6×
40
23Brazil240.3%0.3×
72
24Finland220.3%0.5×
27
25Russia220.3%0.6×
45
26Norway220.3%0.5×
28
27Austria210.2%0.8×
24
28Belgium180.2%0.5×
21
29Ireland170.2%0.2×
28
30Malaysia140.2%0.3×
18
31Luxembourg110.1%0.2×
16
32Denmark100.1%0.4×
10
33New Zealand90.1%0.1×
11
34Mexico90.1%0.5×
14
35Poland60.1%0.2×
8
36Czechia60.1%0.2×
9
37Portugal50.1%0.0×
6
38Saudi Arabia40.0%3.0×
7
39Liechtenstein10.0%0.0×
1
40Hungary00.0%–
3

Applicants

The largest applicants by international patent families, 2015 to 2024: across the world, then within each of the five countries with the most families in Financial Inclusion & Household Access. Names are as held in the source and are not consolidated across subsidiaries.

Global

8,509 international families

MASTERCARD INTERNATIONAL INC · United States

CAPITAL ONE SERVICES LLC · United States

VISA INT SERVICE ASS · United States

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD · South Korea

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD · China

ALIBABA GROUP SERVICES LTD · Cayman Islands

653

442

363

258

245

202

United States

3,362 international families

MASTERCARD INTERNATIONAL INC

CAPITAL ONE SERVICES LLC

VISA INT SERVICE ASS

APPLE INC

PAYPAL INC

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NA

651

442

357

96

84

63

South Korea

961 international families

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD

LG ELECTRONICS INC

HYUNDAI MOTOR CO LTD

SSENSTONE INC

SK PLANET CO LTD

KIA MOTORS CORP

253

94

36

32

29

25

China

951 international families

HUAWEI TECH CO LTD

CHINA UNIONPAY CO LTD

TENCENT TECH SHENZHEN CO LTD

ALIPAY HANGZHOU INF TECH CO LTD

ALIPAY HANGZHOU TECH CO LTD

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD

108

89

62

55

49

38

Japan

791 international families

TOSHIBA TEC KK

TOYOTA MOTOR CO LTD

TOYOTA MOTOR CORP

NEC CORP

RAKUTEN GROUP INC

SONY CORP

174

80

80

41

38

34

France

329 international families

BANKS AND ACQUIRERS INT HOLDING

THALES DIS FRANCE SAS

INGENICO GROUP

IDEMIA FRANCE

GEMALTO SA

ORANGE

57

57

44

41

32

31

Similar capabilities

The nine capabilities that share the most international patent families with Financial Inclusion & Household Access, 2015 to 2024: the families counted in both as a share of those counted in either. Each card shows its five largest countries.

Strategic Infrastructure

Payments & Settlement Systems

33.7% shared · 8,509 families in both

United States

Japan

China

South Korea

Germany

8,689

3,604

3,322

2,540

750

Financial Strength

Payment & Market Infrastructure Oversight

31.4% shared · 6,093 families in both

United States

China

South Korea

Japan

Cayman Islands

6,452

2,381

1,618

1,604

589

Financial Strength

Currency Issuance & Digital Money

9.0% shared · 2,097 families in both

United States

Japan

China

South Korea

Germany

4,952

2,438

1,902

1,526

1,399

Trade & Investment

Digital Trade & E-Commerce

7.4% shared · 2,127 families in both

United States

Japan

South Korea

China

Canada

6,376

4,793

3,598

2,845

590

Financial Strength

Banking System Capacity

6.9% shared · 861 families in both

United States

China

Japan

South Korea

Canada

1,677

722

638

486

297

Strategic Infrastructure

Banks, Insurers & Systemic Institutions

5.7% shared · 922 families in both

United States

China

Japan

South Korea

Canada

2,907

1,531

1,087

813

421

Financial Strength

Financial Integrity & Illicit Finance Control

5.6% shared · 556 families in both

United States

China

Japan

South Korea

Canada

1,064

181

104

84

67

Production & Innovation

Digital Economy Adoption

3.4% shared · 2,700 families in both

United States

Japan

China

South Korea

Germany

21,362

15,584

10,966

7,828

2,749

Critical Technology

Privacy, Identity & Trust Technologies

3.1% shared · 2,425 families in both

United States

China

Japan

South Korea

Germany

20,167

13,819

8,702

6,734

3,966

Crosswalk

How Financial Inclusion & Household Access is matched to the patent classifications. The entries below were chosen for it; each stands for itself and everything beneath it in the scheme, 47 Cooperative entries in all. A patent family counts when any of its codes, in either scheme and at any office, falls under one of them. Codes since retired are placed under the entries that replaced them.

EntryTitle in the schemeWhy it is chosenCPC codesIPC codesDocuments
G06Q20/32Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devicesPayments using mobile phones and other wireless devices202207,458
G06Q20/34Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cardsPayments using cards271128,658

CPC and IPC codes are the codes in use on patent documents, at any office, that fall under the entry. Documents is the larger of the two schemes' counts of documents carrying one of them. An entry with no IPC codes can be told apart only in the Cooperative scheme.

The Cooperative codes in use that count towards Financial Inclusion & Household Access: 47 codes on 336,116 documents. The full crosswalk is in the cpc-to-capability.csv download.

CodeTitleUnder entryHow placedDocuments
G06Q20/341Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chipG06Q20/34In the scheme37,448
G06Q20/322Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]G06Q20/32In the scheme27,888
G06Q20/3278RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme26,522
G06Q20/326Payment applications installed on the mobile devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme16,469
G06Q20/3223Realising banking transactions through M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme15,665
G06Q20/3276Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being read by the M-deviceG06Q20/32In the scheme15,436
G06Q20/3224Transactions dependent on location of M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme15,365
G06Q20/32Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme14,780
G06Q20/327Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme14,043
G06Q20/34Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cardsG06Q20/34In the scheme13,644
G06Q20/352Contactless payments by cardsG06Q20/34In the scheme10,097
G06Q20/3274Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being displayed on the M-deviceG06Q20/32In the scheme10,030
G06Q20/325Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices using wireless networksG06Q20/32In the scheme9,973
G06Q20/3227Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices] using secure elements embedded in M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme7,563
G06Q20/342Cards defining paid or billed services or quantitiesG06Q20/34In the scheme6,890
G06Q20/3552Downloading or loading of personalisation dataG06Q20/34In the scheme6,841
G06Q20/3226Use of secure elements separate from M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme6,471
G06Q20/3255Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices using wireless networks using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMSG06Q20/32In the scheme5,643
G06Q20/321Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices using wearable devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme5,518
G06Q20/351Virtual cardsG06Q20/34In the scheme4,647
G06Q20/3221Access to banking information through M-devicesG06Q20/32In the scheme3,968
G06Q20/354Card activation or deactivationG06Q20/34In the scheme3,902
G06Q20/353Payments by cards read by M-devicesG06Q20/34In the scheme3,890
G06Q20/346Cards serving only as information carrier of serviceG06Q20/34In the scheme3,836
G06Q20/3229Use of the SIM of a M-device as secure elementG06Q20/32In the scheme3,656
G06Q20/355Personalisation of cards for useG06Q20/34In the scheme3,571
G06Q20/347Passive cardsG06Q20/34In the scheme3,295
G06Q20/3576Multiple memory zones on cardG06Q20/34In the scheme3,096
G06Q20/357Cards having a plurality of specified featuresG06Q20/34In the scheme2,862
G06Q20/3572Multiple accounts on cardG06Q20/34In the scheme2,780
G06Q20/3574Multiple applications on cardG06Q20/34In the scheme2,578
G06Q20/349Rechargeable cardsG06Q20/34In the scheme2,496
G06Q20/3263Payment applications installed on the mobile devices characterised by activation or deactivation of payment capabilitiesG06Q20/32In the scheme2,314
G06Q20/3433Cards including a counter the counter having monetary unitsG06Q20/34In the scheme2,249
G06Q20/3267In-app paymentsG06Q20/32In the scheme2,203
G06Q20/35765Access rights to memory zonesG06Q20/34In the scheme2,166
G06Q20/343Cards including a counterG06Q20/34In the scheme2,041
G06Q20/3272Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices using an audio codeG06Q20/32In the scheme2,033
G06Q20/3415Cards acting autonomously as pay-mediaG06Q20/34In the scheme1,995
G06Q20/3265Payment applications installed on the mobile devices characterised by personalisation for useG06Q20/32In the scheme1,918
G06Q20/356Aspects of software for card paymentsG06Q20/34In the scheme1,895
G06Q20/3563Software being resident on cardG06Q20/34In the scheme1,669
G06Q20/3437Cards including a counter the counter having non-monetary units, e.g. tripsG06Q20/34In the scheme1,419
G06Q20/3558Preliminary personalisation for transfer to userG06Q20/34In the scheme1,309
G06Q20/3567Software being in the readerG06Q20/34In the scheme1,095
G06Q20/3555Personalisation of two or more cardsG06Q20/34In the scheme501
G06Q20/348Single-use cards, i.e. without possibility of rechargingG06Q20/34In the scheme446
Match: Through its tools
The classification names the equipment or technology the capability draws on, not the capability. The count says how much is being invented for it, not how well it is done. Counts consumer payment instruments that carry access to households, not account ownership or usage rates. The crosswalk is a first pass that nobody has reviewed.

Other capabilities in Financial System Depth & Access