More and more people around the world are getting access to a bank account, and it’s a big step for the world’s poor. A bank account means that you can keep your earnings safe and manage your money securely. When you can document income, it becomes easier to get a loan, for example if you want to buy a home or start a business. It also makes it easier for governments to transfer money to the population, whether it is either wages or emergency aid. It is therefore a decisive development that 4.5 out of the world’s 6 billion people over the age of 15 now have a bank account. There is an increase of 50 per cent in the last ten years, shows a new analysis of the use of and access to financial services from the World Bank. The increase is particularly large in developing countries, where the number of adults with access to a bank account has risen by 71 per cent in the same period. Research shows that financial inclusion helps people stay out of poverty. Putting money into the system also helps communities. – For the authorities, there are advantages to getting money into the system, because it can be difficult with VAT and taxes when a country’s economy is built on cash, says Jens Glasø. He is the founder of the Norwegian company Spenn, which is a digital banking system for mobile phones, with many customers in developing countries. The mobile phone becomes a bank And in fact, the mobile phone is one of the cornerstones in the great growth of bank customers. Today, the spread of mobile phones means that there is no need for so much expensive infrastructure to deliver modern financial services, and that development helps people on low incomes. It is expensive to transfer money in a system that only consists of physical banks. – Those who have the least have paid the highest fees and therefore it has not made sense for the banks to take in the people with the lowest income, explains Jens Glasø. A physical bank requires buildings, security guards and a lot of paperwork, which makes the price for transferring money so high that the bank does not make money from customers with low balances and small transactions. It has excluded a large group of low-income people from getting a bank account, which means they have to manage their finances with cash, and that is very uncertain. Therefore, mobile phones play a major role in the increase in account holders in, for example, the countries south of the Sahara, and in recent years the corona pandemic has also set in motion the growth of mobile banking. SMS account For example, financial supervisory authorities in West Africa temporarily offered that people could open and get an account via an SMS, when the corona pandemic was at its peak and many countries were shut down. Over eight million people opened a bank account that way. At the same time, many governments urgently needed to be able to transfer money to their citizens during the shutdowns, as people around the world were unable to work and had difficulty paying for food and housing. More than 200 countries introduced emergency and support programs for cash transfers or expanded existing programs. In India, for example, money was transferred to 300 million people in the first two weeks of lockdown alone. It was possible because of the digital banking systems for mobile phones and targeted work from the UN and NGOs. In addition to the social progress, it strengthens the possibilities for the individual, when citizens do not have to hide cash under their pillows, and when they get the opportunity to safely borrow money. – Most of all, it’s about independence, that people who were previously excluded from banking systems now have the opportunity to create a better future for themselves, says Jens Glasø.
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Now three out of four adults on earth have a bank account
