advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

World Bank report link mobile phones in Africa to huge drop in “unbanked”

The number of people without access to financial services has decreased considerably, according to a new report from the World Bank (WB).

The WB Global Findex details how the percentage of adults with a bank account has increased globally from 51% to 62% between 2011 and 2014, largely due to a 13% rise in bank account ownership in developing countries and the role of technology.

In particular, mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa are helping with these gains, and the data also show big opportunities for boosting financial inclusion among women and poor people.

“We have evidence that we’re making major progress,” said World Bank group president Jim Yong Kim, “This effort will require many partners – credit card companies, banks, microcredit institutions, the United Nations, foundations, and community leaders. But we can do it, and the payoff will be millions of people lifted out of poverty.”

Local mobile money accounts, along with banks and other financial institutions, contributed toward seven hundred million more people worldwide becoming account holders, exponentially growing and scaling up access to banking across the globe.

Mobile money services in South Africa and other African countries are provided through partnerships, and sometimes individually, by banks and mobile telephone companies.

The World Bank sees the decrease in the number of people who are “unbanked” as progress towards their goal of universal financial access by the year 2020.

[Image: CC BY 3.0/D.F. Shapinsky]

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement