2. GLOBAL FINDEX OVERVIEW
Goal to collect comparable cross-country data on financial inclusion by
surveying individuals around the world:
― Measure the use of formal and informal financial services, using consistent
methodology across economies and time
― Identify the segments of the population with greatest barriers to access to finance:
poor, woman, youth, and rural residents.
― Motivate and track policies to expand financial services to the poor
― Design a questionnaire to harmonize financial inclusion questions across economies
Funded by a 10 year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (through
2020)
Added questions on the use of financial services - payments, savings, credit,
and insurance - to the 2011 Gallup World Poll
Currently in the field collecting data for 2014, which includes expanded
payments module; data will also be collected for 2017
3. GLOBAL FINDEX OVERVIEW
What is Financial Inclusion and why is it important?
― Financial inclusion means that households and businesses have access and can
effectively use appropriate financial services. Such services must be provided
responsibly and sustainably in a well regulated environment.
― Financial inclusion can be a key driver of economic growth and poverty alleviation,
as access to finance can boost job creation, reduce vulnerability to shocks and increase
investments in human capital.
― Without inclusive financial systems, poor people must rely on their own limited savings
to invest in their education or become entrepreneurs – and small enterprises must rely
on their limited earnings to pursue promising growth opportunities.
― Growing evidence that financial inclusion has significant beneficial effects for
individuals. Providing individuals access to savings instruments increases savings
(Aportela, 1999; Ashraf et al., 2010a) female empowerment (Ashraf et al., 2010b)
productive investment (Dupas and Robinson, 2009) consumption (Dupas and
Robinson, 2009 and Ashraf et al., 2010b).
4. GLOBAL FINDEX OVERVIEW
Who cares about Financial Inclusion?
Policymakers around the world are increasingly committed to promoting financial
inclusion.
– At the G20 Summit in Seoul, the Leaders of the G20, recognizing financial inclusion as one of the main
pillars of the global development agenda, endorsed the establishment of the Global Partnership for
Financial Inclusion (GPFI); At their summit in St. Petersburg in Sept., 2013, the G20 leaders endorsed the
“G20 Financial Inclusion Indicators” developed by the GPFI to track progress towards financial inclusion and
to assess the state of financial inclusion by measuring access to, use, and quality of financial services
– The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), a network of financial policymakers that aim to increase access
to appropriate financial services among the poor, drafted the “Maya Declaration”—a measurable set of
commitments by developing country governments to expand financial inclusion—which has been signed by
more than 80 countries
– The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development
(UNSGSA), Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, is working to ensure that access to financial
services for households and SMEs is recognized as a key enabler of economic growth, poverty alleviation
and development in the post 2015-development agenda
– According to a recent survey of bank regulators across 143 jurisdictions, 67 percent of regulators are
charged with promoting financial inclusion
– WB President Kim announced a new initiative to provide universal financial access to all working-age
adults by 2020
5. GLOBAL FINDEX OVERVIEW
Who are financially included?
― Financial Inclusion refers to the use of financial services
― Importantly, we do not include women that report “indirect” access to financial
services through someone else’s account
Who are the excluded? (not mutually exclusive)
― The Self-Excluded: Adults who truly don’t need or choose not to use financial
services, for reasons other than market failures
― The Involuntarily Excluded: Anyone who does not use services due to barriers
(such as distance, high-cost, etc.) that arise as a result of market failures (like
asymmetric information, inadequate contract environment, etc.)
The role of policy is to broaden financial inclusion to reach those that are
excluded due to market failures
6. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
2011 Findex Data Collection
― 150,000+ interviews with adults in 148 economies
over the 2011 calendar year
― Represents 97% of the world’s adult population
― Target population: all non-institutionalized adults
ages 15+ (some exceptions)
― Survey translated into 141 languages
― Face-to-face interviews in countries where
telephone coverage represents less than 80% of
population (126 out of 148 economies)
― Telephone interviews in 22 countries, using
Random Digit Dialing
― Average response rate: 65%
Published April 2012
7. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
Over 2.5 billion adults do not have an account
41% of adults in developing economies are banked—compared to 89% of adults in high-
income economies
37% of women in developing economies are banked—compared to 46% of men
23% of adults living below US$ 2 per day have a formal account
8. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
57% of adults in upper middle income economies have an account — compared to 28% of
adults in lower middle income economies and 24% adults in low income economies
9. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
In Central and South East Europe (CSEE) (developing only) 52% of adults are banked
In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 41% of adults are banked
Account penetration
Adults with an account at a formal financial institution (%)
* Denotes high income country in 2011
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
HighIncome
Europe&CentralAsia
Estonia*
Slovenia*
Latvia
CzechRepublic*
SlovakRepublic*
Lithuania
Hungary*
Poland*
Bulgaria
Romania
Croatia*
Macedonia,FYR
Serbia
BosniaandHerzegovina
Montenegro
Kosovo
Albania
Turkey
Belarus
RussianFederation
Kazakhstan
Ukraine
Georgia
Uzbekistan
Moldova
Armenia
Azerbaijan
KyrgyzRepublic
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
EU CSEE non-EU CSEE CIS
10. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
Women, youth, the poor, and rural residents are the least likely to have a formal account
Adults in the poorest income quintile in developing economies are half as likely to be banked as
adults in the richest quintile
A 6-9 percentage points gender gap persists across income groups in developing economies
11. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
• GDP per capita can explain a
lot: around 73% of the
variation at the country-level
for the whole sample…
• … but for the bottom 50
percent (below US$ 2,436):
only 15 percent of the variation
(yellow band)
• Uzbekistan and Ukraine have
a similar GDP per capita
(approx. US$ 900 and US$
1000) but an account
penetration rate of 23% and
41%, respectively
12. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
66% of unbanked choose “[I] don’t have enough money” — 30% choose it as the only reason
31% of unbanked in Europe and Central Asia choose “[I] don’t trust banks”
31% of unbanked in Sub-Saharan Africa choose “Too far away”
40% of unbanked in Latin America and the Caribbean choose “They are too expensive”
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Religious reasons
Lack of trust
Lack of necessary documents
Too far away
Family member already has account
Too expensive
Not enough money (only)
All
CSEE (high income)
CSEE (developing)
CIS
Self-reported barriers to use of formal accounts
Non-account holders reporting barrier as a reason for not having and account (%)
Note: Respondents could choose more than one reason. The data for “not enough money” refer to the percentage of adults
who reported only this reason
13. GLOBAL FINDEX ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS
61% of account holders in ECA use their account to receive wages—compared to 34% of all
account holders in developing economies and 56% of account holders in high-income economies
24% of account holders in ECA use their account to receive payments from the government—
compared to 15% of all account holders in developing economies and 47% of account holders in
high-income economies
Use of accounts to receive payments in developing countries
Adults using a formal account in the past year to receive payments (%)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Receive wages Receive gov't
payments
Receive remittances Send remittances
All economies
CSEE (high income)
CSEE (developing)
CIS
14. GLOBAL FINDEX SAVINGS
20% of adults in ECA saved in the past year, compared to 32% of adults in the rest of the
developing world and 58% in high income economies
7% of adults in ECA saved formally in the past year, compared to 18% of adults in the
rest of the developing world and 45% in high income economies
15. GLOBAL FINDEX SAVINGS
In Central and South East Europe (CSEE) (developing only) 17% of adults saved in past year
In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 23% of adults saved in the past year
Formal and informal saving
Adults saving any money in the past year (%)
* Denotes high income country in 2011
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
HighIncome
Europe&CentralAsia
Slovenia*
CzechRepublic*
SlovakRepublic*
Estonia*
Lithuania
Poland*
Hungary*
Latvia
Romania
Bulgaria
Albania
Croatia*
Macedonia,FYR
Kosovo
Serbia
BosniaandHerzegovina
Montenegro
Turkey
Turkmenistan
KyrgyzRepublic
Uzbekistan
Belarus
Ukraine
RussianFederation
Kazakhstan
Moldova
Tajikistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
EU CSEE non-EU CSEE CIS
Using other
methods only
At a financial
institution
16. GLOBAL FINDEX SAVINGS
40% of account holders in developing economies saved formally in the past year
14% of account holders in ECA saved formally in the past year
17. GLOBAL FINDEX SAVINGS
29% of account holders in high income CSEE economies saved formally in the past year
14% of account holders in developing CSEE economies saved formally in the past year
17% of account holders in CIS economies saved formally in the past year
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
High income Developing CSEE
(high income)
CSEE
(developing)
CIS
Savings behavior among account holders
Adults with a formal account by savings behavior in the past year (%)
Did not save
Saved using other
methods only
Saved formally
18. GLOBAL FINDEX CREDIT
7% of adults in developing economies have a credit card—compared to 50% of adults in high-
income economies
8% of adults in developing economies borrowed money from a formal lender in the past year—
compared to 14% of adults in high-income economies
19. GLOBAL FINDEX CREDIT
10% of adults in high-income CSEE economies borrowed money from a formal lender in the
past year—compared to 9% of adults in developing CSEE economies and 8% in CIS economies
16% of adults in Europe and Central Asia have a credit card—and 20% of adults in high-income
CSEE economies
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
High income Developing CSEE
(high income)
CSEE (developing) CIS
Retail store (store credit)
I
I
I
I
I
I
Bank, credit union, or MFI
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Informal lender
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Sources of new formal and informal loans
Adults borrowing from source in the past year (%)
Family or friends
I
I
20. GLOBAL FINDEX FINDEX 2014
Findex 2014
― Triennial update of Findex data will add time-series dimension to database
― In 2013, additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was secured to
expand the 2014 Findex to include an extended module on payments
Motivation
― Approximately 2.5 billion people are cut off from digital financial systems and must
rely on cash to manage their day-to-day finances and plan for the future.
― Policymakers and donors increasingly view the migration of poor households to
digital payment platforms as an essential ingredient in expanding financial inclusion
― Better demand-side payments can:
• Enhance understanding of how payments relate to saving, borrowing, and risk
management behaviors
• Help track and monitor efforts to expand digital payments
• Demonstrate size of potential market to private sector
― Will cover domestic remittances, wage payments, government-to-person
payments, utility payments, mobile money, debit/credit/payment cards
21. GLOBAL FINDEX DATA RELEASE
Global Findex Suite of Products
― Financial Inclusion Data Portal
― World Bank eAtlas of Financial Inclusion
― Global Financial Inclusion Microdata Databank
― Research Papers and Findex Notes
Reference citation for the Global Findex:
Asli Demirguc-Kunt and Leora Klapper, 2012, “Measuring Financial Inclusion:
The Global Findex Database”, World Bank Policy Research Paper 6025
www.worldbank.org/globalfindex
Twitter: @globalfindex
