Affordable financial services for all: these countries are doing the most to get there

Financial inclusion is a vital part of reducing poverty worldwide. Whether allowing people to open a bank account or access credit, financial services are key to economic growth and wealth creation.

Two billion people do not have access to high-quality, affordable financial services. Additionally, there are 200 million small and medium-sized enterprises worldwide that have no access to formal financial services.

The Brookings Institution’s Financial and Digital Inclusion Project assesses access and usage of affordable financial services for underserved people in 26 diverse countries around the world and has rated their efforts to address the situation.

The inclusive goal

The report selected a broad range of geographically, politically, and economically diverse emerging economies. Each country was given a percentage score based on four dimensions of financial inclusion: country commitment to addressing the issue, mobile phone capacity, regulatory environment and adoption of selected traditional and digital financial services.

Kenya leads the way in inclusive financial services, just ahead of Colombia.

Brazil, South Africa and Uganda rank jointly in third.

Kenya’s success

Kenya has seen a 50% increase in financial inclusion over the last decade.

Much of the progress in Kenya’s financial inclusion landscape has been credited to the country’s vibrant mobile money ecosystem, which features exceptionally high adoption rates.

Kenya is considered the most mature mobile money market in the world, driven by the widespread success of Safaricom’s M-Pesa service.

Challenges in Egypt

Of the 26 countries examined in the report, Egypt ranks at the bottom.

With about 14% of all adults age 15 and older holding an account with a formal financial institution or mobile money provider, Egypt’s level of adoption of formal financial services is roughly comparable to other countries in the Middle East.

However, this adoption level falls far below the average for other lower middle income countries, which was about 43% as of 2014.

Ongoing political tensions in Egypt are expected to complicate the country’s financial inclusion landscape for the foreseeable future.

An improving picture

Although there are many challenges remaining for populations underserved by financial services, the report notes that there has been much improvement in a relatively short period of time.

Globally, there has been tremendous progress: Between 2011 and 2014, financial exclusion declined by 20% globally.

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