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FINTECH FOR FINANCIAL INCLUSION
INTRODUCTION Access to finance, financial inclusion and financial sector development have long been major policy objectives. Over the last century, a series of initiatives have aimed to increase access to finance and financial inclusion, but these have accelerated in the last decade as technological developments combined with strategic policy support show potential for progress beyond anything that has been achieved. The World Bank’s 2017 Global Findex shows that in the last three years, 515 million adults acquired a financial account, and between 2010 and 2017, 1.2 billion people opened an account with a formal financial institution or mobile financial services provider (including mobile money) for the first time.1 This is impressive progress by any measure, but much remains to be done: as of 2017, 1.7 billion people 16 years or older still did not have access to an account, some 31 percent of the world’s adult population. The number of financially excluded are still disproportionately higher in developing and emerging market countries, but there has been substantial progress, as most of the 1.2 billion people who gained access to an account for the first time in the last eight years live in developing countries and emerging markets. Particular progress has been made in East Africa, China and India. WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR THESE DEVELOPMENTS? From 2010 to 2017, much of the progress was related to the impact of financial technology (FinTech) in a number of countries. Three examples stand out. The first is the development of mobile money, particularly in Kenya and East Africa,2 where this type of FinTech has done the most to promote financial inclusion (if narrowly defined as ensuring access to financial services),3 allowing the unbanked to make payments, remit funds and save using their mobile phone. The second example is China, where a traditional and not overly efficient financial system became one of the world’s most digitized financial systems.4 This process was accompanied by the single greatest decrease in poverty in world history. The third major example is India, where financial access increased dramatically in a very short time. As of 2017, 80 percent of adults in India had an account. This is the result of a major strategy to build an ecosystem for a new digital economy and financial system (i.e. “India Stack”), in particular, underlying infrastructure and an enabling policy environment. Among other things, this has led to approximately 350 million people gaining access to accounts for the first time.
KEY FACTS
515 MILLION ADULTS ACQUIRED A FINANCIAL ACCOUNT BETWEEN 2010 - 2017
1.2 BILLION PEOPLE
OPENED AN ACCOUNT WITH A FORMAL INSTITUTION OR MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDER
80% OF ADULTS
IN INDIA HAVE HAVE ACCESS TO AN ACCOUNT IN 2017 AS A RESULT OF FINTECH
31%
OF THE WORLD’S ADULT POPULATION STILL DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO AN ACCOUNT
>200 MILLION BUSINESSES AND 1.7 BILLION PEOPLE REMAIN FINANCIALLY EXCLUDED
2/3
OF THE 1.7 BILLION UNBANKED ADULTS IN 2017 HAVE A MOBILE PHONE
MOBILE MONEY
HAS PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN ADVANCING FINANCIAL INCLUSION, THE MOBILE PHONE IS ARGUABLY THE MOST POWERFUL INSTRUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT IN HISTORY
Source: World Bank’s 2017 Global Findex
31%
