While Bangladesh made great strides toward financial inclusion between 2014 and 2017, as measured by the Findex Bangladesh findings, growth in account ownership has slowed in subsequent years. In 2021, 53% of adults in Bangladesh owned accounts with financial institutions or mobile money platforms, relative to 50% of adults in 2017. However, a shift in patterns of account ownership illustrates a more nuanced narrative. Since 2014, mobile money account ownership has increased by 26 percentage points, largely driven by adults with financial institution accounts also adopting mobile money. Women and poor adults have especially benefited from this growth in mobile money. Digital payments increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as sending domestic remittances or paying utilities from an account. These findings were shared at a seminar titled, “The Future of Financial Inclusion: Presenting the Findex 2021 Bangladesh Findings” organized by BIGD, Brac University in partnership with The World Bank on Sunday, January 15, 2023 at the capital’s BRAC Centre Inn.
World Bank Economist Saniya Ansar presented the Bangladesh findings of the Findex 2021 at the event. She explained, “Over the last four years, preferences have shifted more toward mobile money accounts, and women are opening more accounts now. This growth in account ownership has enabled a decrease in the income and education gaps [between genders].” She noted that hurdles to access persist, and cited cost and distance to financial services as the most frequently reported barriers to account ownership in Bangladesh. “Bangladesh is home to 60 million unbanked adults – about 60% of them need help to use bank accounts,” she added.
Mr Khondoker Shakhawat Ali, Emeritus Fellow at Unnayan Sammannay, who joined the seminar, noted that the growth potential in mobile financial services is high, but identified a lack of protection and competition as major concerns. Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor, Department of Economics at the University of Dhaka, was also a discussant in the seminar. She noted, “As long as poverty is a major issue, there will be a gap between the financially included and excluded people.” She suggested identifying the barriers to financial inclusion and changing gender stereotypes to reduce the gap in inclusion. Mr Bidyut Kumar Basu, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Uddipan also joined the discussion.
In spite of these pervasive barriers, discussants identified reasons for optimism. Kym Cole, Director of BIGD’s WEE-DiFine initiative shared, “An interesting trend observed across presentations today was that institutionalizing digital payments, such as through wage digitization, can push women to adopt DFS in meaningful ways. The digitization of private sector wages and agricultural payments present opportunities to do so at scale in Bangladesh.” Mehnaz Rabbani, Head of Operations, Strategic Engagement, and Partnership at BIGD moderated the discussion. She explained, “Access to financial resources is a driver and always has been a driver of inequality within communities and households. We have a great opportunity at the moment to change things. However, we are also at risk of reinforcing gender gaps, which will be a setback. We need to work in these areas, and we are excited to be part of this conversation.”