Vision to let everybody on Earth plan for a future needs firmer focus

World Bank recognises that new transacting accounts not always meeting needs and that new FinTech providers will be needed if everybody is to have access to credit and insurance

More work is needed to fully engage the 2 billion people without access to a financial account, according to a stocktake of the World Bank’s work to deliver a UN vision.
The vision laid out four years ago that everybody on Earth should have an electronic means to store value is seen as vital to broader financial inclusion, including access to credit to build for a future. The Universal Financial Access 2020 goal has so far seen the number of people being able to transact without cash grow from around half the world’s population to 62%. And a transacting account is only the World bank’s first step to full financial inclusion, also to include other vital financial services.
The World Bank and its partner the International Finance Corporation have committed more than $8bn to bring accounts to half of all those still unbanked. Further measures will be needed, the update on the vision suggests, and many obstacles to full financial inclusion that remain to be overcome.
World Bank survey data suggests that these include people feeling that they do not have enough money to use accounts, do not trust traditional banks, have documentation, or access to branches. It wants partners to help tackle these issues and has agreed to work with a range of institutions, from central banks to micro-insurance providers.
The World Bank welcomes the global trend towards diversifying the range of financial service provide types to include FinTech companies and mobile network operators. One-third of the new accounts secured under the programme so far have not been traditional bank accounts, but other electronic means of storing, sending and receiving value.
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, based at the World Bank, has stressed that financial providers need to recognise that the unbanked will use accounts less if they do not find them useful. It estimates that only half of the 700m accounts opened between 2011 and 2014 are being used, underlining the task ahead for the vision to be fully realised.
The group urges that providers work harder to engage customers if the world is to succeed in universal financial inclusion.