The Wall Street Journal is pleased to announce the finalists of “The Financial Inclusion Challenge,” a competition to showcase solutions to the problems of financial access for the poor in the Asia-Pacific region.

The three finalists are BIMA, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab and Kinara Capital.

Viewers can vote for their favorite organization in the People’s Choice Award, which is run along with the Challenge.

CLICK TO VOTE

The Challenge is part of an editorial initiative sponsored by The MetLife Foundation to provide news and insights about the world’s more than two billion people who are largely excluded from basic financial services.

For a full set of official competition rules, click here.

BIMA

PHOTO: BIMA

BIMA is a microinsurance provider that serves 27 million families across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The company allows consumers to pay insurance premiums with mobile phone credit, and offers customers services like life insurance, health insurance and doctor consultations. See Video >>

ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE LAB

PHOTO: EFL

Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) is an alternative credit-scoring platform utilizing behavioral science. Some of EFL’s clients in Asia Pacific include BTPN and Funding Societies in Indonesia, Janalakshmi Financial Services and Axis Bank in India, and Fuse Lending in the Philippines. See Video >>

KINARA CAPITAL

PHOTO: Kinara Capital

Kinara Capital offers loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises without access to traditional collateral, by using cash flow analysis and psychometric testing. Kinara offers loans ranging from $2,000 to $20,000 in five different states in India. See Video >>

What happens next?

Viewers can vote for their favorite finalist in the People’s Choice Award, which is run alongside the Challenge, until May 30, 2017.

The People’s Choice Award will be announced at the Financial Inclusion dinner in Hong Kong in June, where the Challenge winner will be chosen during a live event before a panel of judges. All finalists will be invited to the first Wall Street Journal D.LIVE technology conference in Asia, where they will network with the biggest names in tech and take part in a workshop session for startup executives.

In addition, MetLife Foundation, the sponsor of the Financial Inclusion Challenge, will consider the finalists for grant funding.

How is it judged?

An independent panel of judges will assess the entries for their solutions, their impact on financial inclusion in Asia-Pacific, and how innovative they are relative to the work already being done in the field. Judges for this year's Financial Inclusion Challenge include Muhammad Yunus, a microlending pioneer and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner; and Michael Wiegand, director of the Financial Services for the Poor initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Questions?

Email us at FinancialInclusion@wsj.com