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FINANCIAL INCLUSION: IMPORTANCE, KEY FACTS, AND DRIVERS
GLOBAL FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2014
MAP 1.1 Adults with an Account at a Formal Financial Institution
Source: Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database, World Bank, Washington, DC, http://www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.
this area has shown much promise (figure 1.4; also see chapter 2). SAVINGS Globally, 36 percent of adults report that they saved or set aside money in the previous year. In high-income economies, this ratio is 58 percent, while in low-income economies, it is only 30 percent. Similar to account ownership, the propensity to save differs across and within countries. Only a portion of these savings is held in formal financial institutions. Worldwide, 22 percent of adults report they saved at a bank, credit union, or microfinance institution (MFI) in 2011. The share ranges from 45 percent in high-income economies to 11 percent in low-income economies. Many other people, including some who own a formal account, rely on different methods of saving. Community-based savings methods, such as savings clubs, are widely used around the world as an alternative or complement to saving at a formal financial institution. These methods are most
commonly found in low-income economies. (For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, 19 percent of adults reported they had used savings clubs and similar methods in 2011.) As with account penetration, formal savings behavior also varies by country category or by individual characteristics within countries (Demirgüç-Kunt and Klapper 2012). For instance, 43 percent of account holders worldwide saved at a formal financial institution in 2011. This ratio ranged from less than 1 percent in Armenia, Cambodia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to more than 60 percent in Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden. Worldwide, 12 percent of bank account holders save solely using methods other than bank accounts. The reasons for this include the high costs of actively using the account, such as balance and withdrawal fees, as well as costs associated with physical distance. Policy makers or commercial bankers could introduce new products to encourage existing account holders to save in formal financial institutions.