Financial inclusion is a sustainable scheme that supports individual wealth creation, entrepreneurship and business growth. Access to credit and capital, secure savings, and efficient payment services enable small and medium businesses to expand, create jobs, and drive economic development. Access to insurance services by individuals and businesses enhances resilience by offering protection against unforeseen risks (uncertainties) and financial shocks providing individuals with peace of mind and allowing entrepreneurs to undertake ventures with greater confidence. By bringing more people and enterprises into the formal economy, financial inclusion strengthens economic activity, boosts productivity, and lays the foundation for inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Affordable financial products and services – such as banking transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – help people manage risks, build financial wealth and invest in businesses. Financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to and use affordable financial products and services that meet their needs, which are delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. Financial inclusion can be a catalyst for achieving seven of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include: SDG 1, End poverty in all its ramifications. SDG 2, Zero Hunger. SDG 3, Good health and well-being. SDG 4, Quality education. SDG 5, Gender equality. SDG 8, Sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and SDG 10, Reducing inequality within and among countries. These goals contribute to eliminating poverty in each community, foster economic growth and employment, and promote economic empowerment of women.
Transaction accounts, or opening of accounts in financial institutions, enable people to securely store funds and efficiently conduct transactions and are typically the first step to use other financial services. The expansion of digital financial services like account opening apps have helped decrease the number of adults without access to an account from 2.5 billion in 2011 to 1.4 billion in 2024 globally, with 76 percent of the global adult population owning an account. This statistics is still skewed against Africa where the majority of adults are without transaction accounts. Despite these global advancements, challenges persist. This disparity in account ownership between low-, and high-, income countries underscores the need for continued efforts by governments to bridge the financial inclusion gap and ensure equitable access to financial services globally as a tool of poverty alleviation.
Financial inclusion enriches and empowers the poor, especially women and youths. By reducing barriers to economic participation, financial services equip women with tools and resources to start and grow businesses, manage household finances, and invest in their futures. This strengthens their voice in decisions affecting them and narrows gender gaps in financial access, promoting broader social and economic equality. Over 80 percent of the world’s 1.4 billion adults without financial accounts reside in Third World countries, are poor and are unemployed or underemployed. Financial services enable individuals to have improved businesses and to invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, adopt sustainable agricultural practices, and implement energy-efficient technologies, thereby contributing to climate mitigation. Furthermore, availability of insurance and financial savings products speed recovery from environmental disasters.
Between 2020 and 2025, the gender gap in account ownership in developing countries narrowed from eight to five percentage points. Despite these advancements, the persistent disparity continues to impede women’s ability to fully manage their financial lives. Early indications suggest that mobile money accounts are playing a role in bridging this gap across various nations. The adoption of mobile money in developing nations has contributed to the general increase of access and has been successful, to some extent, in closing the gender gap in financial inclusion. In October 2024, the World Bank unveiled its Gender Strategy 2024 – 2030, setting ambitious goals to boost economic opportunities for women by 2030, including facilitating capital for 80 million more women and women-owned businesses. Some countries where 80 percent or more of the population holds accounts – such as China, Switzerland, Kenya, India, Singapore and Thailand – are transitioning from access to active usage of a broader range of financial services.
Between 2011 and 2025, savings in banks increased globally, yet the gap between advanced economies (AEs) and the developing economies (DEs) widened, with savings rates at 58 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Similarly, while borrowing also saw improvement, the divide remains pronounced, with rates of 56 percent in AEs compared to 23 percent in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Small businesses also face a substantial and growing financing gap, estimated at $5.7 trillion, equivalent to 19 percent of GDP, or 1.5 times the current supply of funding. This shortfall affects 40 percent of formal Micro-, Small-, and Medium-, sized enterprises (MSMEs) in these regions, leaving their financing needs unmet. When informal enterprises are measured, the gap widens further. MSMEs are vital to economic growth, making up more than 60 percent of employment in the developing regions. However, limited access to finance restricts their ability to expand operations, invest in new technologies, and enhance productivity. Closing the persistent finance gap will help boost productivity, drive long-term growth, and create more and better jobs in EMDEs.
Since 2010, more than 60 nations across the world have either launched or developed “National Financial Inclusion Strategies”, uniting diverse stakeholders to coordinate efforts, including financial regulators, ministries of telecommunications, competition, agriculture, environment and education. Countries achieving significant progress have implemented large-scale policies, such as India’s Aadhaar initiative, which has provided over 1.2 billion residents with universal digital identification, facilitating the opening of Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) accounts. Leveraging government payments has also been instrumental; for instance, 35 percent of adults in low-income countries who received government payments opened their first financial account for this purpose. In fostering uptake and market development of financial products and services, policymakers must address the range of risks financial consumers may face, and to be responsive to new and changed consumer issues from innovative products and providers.
Nigeria has not been lucky in her efforts to improve financial inclusion among excluded adults. High rates of corruption, insecurity and unemployment are pushing more people below the poverty threshold. The Federal Savings Bank, People’s Banks scheme, community banks and micro finance banks which were supposed to be popular in the rural communities failed woefully or did not meet their objective fully. Effective financial consumer protection regulation and market conduct supervision will assist in ensuring that adoption and usage of financial products and services is beneficial to consumers. As highlighted in the most recent World Bank Global Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection (FICP) Survey (2022), international good practice and trends undoubtedly show the advantages for a country to have a regulatory framework and supervision addressing financial consumer and market conduct affairs.
In recent years, the Point of Sale (PoS) system has transformed how financial transactions are conducted in Nigeria. PoS operators or Mobile Money agents play a pivotal role in improving access to financial services. Especially in underserved and unbanked communities. To ensure that all individuals and businesses have access to affordable and effective financial services, fostering inclusive economic growth and development, governments — federal, state and local — must take the bull by the horn and go all out to ensure financial inclusion. It is on record that the majority of those citizens without financial transactions are living in the rural areas. The government must tie financial inclusion of the people in the rural areas with their main job – agriculture! Digital banking like Moneypoint, Opay and Palmpay require a minimum level of literacy for their implementation. The government must be ready to teach the rural dwellers on how to use their mobile phones for financial services.
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