November 3rd, 2017

Financial access is accelerating

1. A third of adults around the world don’t have it. Financial access is the ability to get financial services such as savings accounts, credit, insurance, and loans– things two billion adults around the world don’t have.
2. In Africa those numbers are even less, under 20% of African households have access to formal financial services. But it isn’t just Africa, developed countries are unbanked as well: 28% of Americans are either unbanked or underbanked.
3. Increased financial access means decreased poverty, evidence is beginning to show. Being able to save, borrow, pay bills easily, and manage risk makes a difference in the life of the poor. With financial access, incomes on the lower end of the ladder typically increase.
4. Financial Access is accelerating. 700 million more people got accounts between 2011 and 2014. 62% of adults now have an account, up from 51% in 2011.
5. Unbanked is opportunity. Currently 200 million micro, small and medium enterprises can’t get sufficient financing to run their business. Providing credit to new and existing business promotes growth.
6. Financial Access is gendered 58 percent of women have an account, compared to 65 percent of men and that gap isn’t significantly narrowing.
7. Mobile money matters, particularly in Africa: Globally, only 1% of adults exclusively use a mobile money account, in Africa that number just to 12%. Since the 2007 launch of M-PESA in Kenya,255 mobile money services have emerged around the world, offering services beyond sending payments and remittances.
8. The countries receiving the most money, in 2015, were Turkey, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan, accounting for 25% of single-country funding.
9. Africa is rising, One-third of all Financial Access Projects are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, surpassing South Asia for the first time and making it the second highest funded region in the world.
10. Business is booming, In 2015, international funding commitments to financial inclusion increased by $3 billion to $34 billion.

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