Access to financial products widens: IMF study
People's access to financial products went up significantly in Bangladesh in the five years to 2017, indicating the country's march towards financial inclusion, according to a new survey of the International Monetary Fund.
The Financial Access Survey (FAS), which was released on Friday, showed the branches of commercial banks per 100,000 adults rose to 8.58 last year from 8.02 in 2013.
Deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults went up from 599.47 in 2013 to 770.81 last year.
Mobile money agent outlets per 100,000 adults jumped nearly four times to 666.76 from 186.56 during the period.
The FAS collects annual data on indicators tracking access to and use of financial products, such as deposit accounts, loans and insurance policies.
The survey is based on administrative data collected by central banks or financial regulators from financial institutions and service providers.
In Bangladesh, automated teller machines per 100,000 adults nearly doubled from 4.81 in 2013 to 8.07 last year. Active mobile money accounts per 1,000 adults saw the biggest jump: it was 44.67 in 2013 and reached 178.15 last year.
However, loan accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults fell three percentage points to 90.23 during the five-year period.
Mobile money transactions per 1,000 adults rose significantly from 2,090.35 in 2013 to 15,901.59 in 2017.
The FAS suggests that low-income countries are leading the way in mobile money adoption. On an average, the number of mobile money accounts in a low-income economy is more than twice the number of bank accounts per 1,000 adults.
While Africa continues to lead the mobile money revolution, other regions are not far behind. In countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Guyana, mobile money services are growing fast in terms of both the number of accounts and transactions.
Launched in 2009, the FAS is a unique supply-side dataset that enables policymakers to measure and monitor financial inclusion and benchmark progress against peers.