One look at Asia’s skylines and the casual observer gets the impression that Asia is truly rising. The top ten financial centres in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai and Taipei, followed by Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Bangkok, Beijing and Seoul tell a story of rapid growth and new wealth. However, with 1.5 billion people without access to conventional financial services, Asia is also home to the majority of the world’s unbanked . In the East Asia and Pacific region alone, 55% of the population is unbanked. It is estimated that the total number of people without access to banking services is between 2.2 and 2.5 billion people.
This ongoing series on urban poverty was written based on field research done in four of Southeast Asia’s major cities: Jakarta, Manila, Hanoi, and Vientiane. The team conducted a survey and analyzed the opportunities and challenges of the urban poor.
