Why Financial Access Isn’t Enough
摘要
The incredible success in expanding access to financial tools is well documented, with the World Bank’s 2021 Findex reporting that 71% of adults in developing economies now have financial accounts, up from 42% a decade before. This is just the first step. Now governments, nonprofits, and the private sector need to keep working together to encourage greater usage by bringing relevant digital services to more people. These groups should go further by layering in greater connectivity and greater consumer privacy and protections to give users more control over their data. These efforts will help people move up from simply having an account to fully benefiting from it. It’s what we call moving from “financial access” to “financial health.” This work will grow the wave of prosperity even more. This chapter discusses the continued efforts to use digital identity, data analytics, financial education, and many other tools and technologies—as well a network of partnerships—to grow financial health all over the world.