Research has shown that financial inclusion is a key enabler to reducing poverty and boosting prosperity in any nation (World Bank Group).

The World Bank Group considers financial inclusion a key enabler to reduce extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity, and has put forward an ambitious global goal to reach Universal Financial Access (UFA) by 2020. 

According to the World Bank, financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs i.e. transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. The World Bank further states that being able to have access to a transaction account is a first step towards broader financial inclusion since a transaction account allows people to store money, and send and receive payments. A transaction account serves as a gateway to other financial services, which is why ensuring that people worldwide can have access to a transaction account is the focus of the World Bank Group. 

The Financial Intelligence Centre’s Financial Inclusion Risk Assessment Report (2016) defined financial inclusion as the process of ensuring access to financial services in a timely manner and at an affordable cost by low income and underserved groups. In other words, financial inclusion is the process of enabling those sectors and segments of the population that are outside the formal financial system, to become a part of the system. Financial inclusion should be accompanied with financial literacy and financial discipline to make it more sustainable.

The full article can be accessed from the link below.

Attachments:

Financial Inclusion AML/CFT

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