New Findex notes showcase digital financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa

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We're thrilled to release five new data notes in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation and Mastercard Foundation Partnership for Financial Inclusion outlining Sub-Saharan Africa's successes and challenges in building digital financial inclusion.

The notes—all of which are available for download at our homepage—draw on tens of thousands of surveys to explore how adults in the region use accounts, digital payments, and savings to manage their financial lives.

Sub-Saharan Africa leads one of the most exciting development innovations of our time—the rise of mobile money. Our first note explains how this technology can expand the use of financial services and describes how it has spread over time.

Account ownership rose in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2014-2017

Since 2014, the region's big financial inclusion gains have been driven by mobile money, not old school brick-and-mortar banks. In Cote d'Ivoire and Uganda, mobile money penetration rose while bank account ownership was mostly flat. At the same time, mobile money has spread from East Africa to West Africa. Three years ago in Senegal, only 6% of adults had a mobile money account; today, the share is 32%.

How do people save, borrow, and cover emergency expenses in a region with low access to formal banking and weak safety nets? That's the subject of our note on savings, credit, and financial resilience. Spoiler alert: Semi-formal savings groups are popular, and when people need a loan, they usually turn to their friends and relatives—not a bank.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, saving semiformally is much more common than saving formally

 

Women are still less likely than men to have basic financial services. While there are early, untested indications that mobile money might be helping to shrink gender differences in some countries, things have barely changed at the regional level since we launched the Global Findex in 2011. How big is the gender gap? What are the potential benefits and limitations of mobile solutions? Why don't more women have accounts? Where are the opportunities to bring unbanked women into the financial system? Our third note digs into the data.

Unbanked women in Sub-Saharan Africa face a range of barriers to getting an account

Our forth note explores the link between digital financial inclusion and access to government-issued identification. It draws on the first-ever global dataset collected with the World Bank ID4D team covering ownership and use of ID to explore questions like: Who has ID and who doesn't? What are the hurdles to ID access? What do people use their ID for? (If you guessed that it has something to do with mobile phones, you're on the right track). The good news is that ID ownership is high among unbanked adults, which might make it easier for them to get financial services.

Most unbanked adults have ID

Today's young Africans are growing up in a new financial world. Our youth note (forthcoming!) looks at how they use digital financial services and explores key areas of growth.

Young adults using Internet to buy something online in the past year

We hope these notes will help policymakers think through opportunities and challenges in expanding financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. The goal is not to give people accounts just for the sake of it. Research shows that use of digital financial services can spark development in areas ranging from farming to health and education. As governments seek to expand access to digital banking services, its vital to acknowledge the risks and enact strict consumer protections—especially for the most vulnerable people, such as those with limited educational attainment or financial experience.

Find all the data on our Global Findex homepage and be sure to follow us on Twitter @GlobalFindex. 

Mr.Gibson Eugene Siwale
March 13, 2020

i am zambian citizen and very much interested in knowing more about the financial inclusion an dthe impact this has on the poverty eradication

Nura haruna
March 13, 2020

I like joint this conversation

Prof. Marius Chukwuemeka
March 13, 2020

Mobile Money penetration and financial inclusion within the sub-region may face enormous challenges from the avalanche of rapidly evolving Digital transformation. AI, Quantum Computing and the rise of Internet of Things (IoTs), 5G Cloud may give criminals the leverage to disrupt effective financial intermediation given poor infrastructure, and policy failure, etc. Financial service providers must as a long-term survival strategy resort to proactive measures to safeguard and ensure financial resilience.

Salma Malik
March 13, 2020

Wow it's a great opportunity and being a social activist, I would love to be its part.

Barbara Bwire
March 13, 2020

Would love to get more insight on financial inclusion

Test Name
March 13, 2020

Great blog!

Kefa Simiyu
May 15, 2020

The challenges facing Africa are becoming more real than imagined, thereby, necessitating a rethinking of how societies address these complex challenges. Notably, safety nets are shrinking against population explosion. Financial inclusion is growing at such an unprecedented rate. However, weaker safety nets have seemingly implied that more individuals are able to access loanable funds than are there to save.