WORLD ACADEMY OF INFORMATICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
ISSN : 2278-1315
hand-in-hand to create mobile payment and micro-lending
money in 2015 (up from 2 out of 10 in 2009). Among Filipino
facilities for financially under-banked users. Numerous
adults, 24.5% never saved and only 31.3% (up from 26.6%)
online payment and commerce systems incorporated with
have an account at a formal financial institution. The lack of
cellphones have been built to facilitate the ease with which
enough money was cited as the main reason for not having a
this underserved population can immerse themselves in the
bank account. This statistic is considered to have been
digital economy. Examples of popular apps that have been
improved by now considering the increase and emergence of
created to foster financial inclusiveness include China’s
new technologies that have create great impact on fintech.
AliPay and India’s Paytm Wallet, serving 450 million and
122 million users in 2016, respectively. This is expected to
While there has been significant progress, there is still much
increase as new technologies continue to emerge.
to be done. As an emerging country with a sizeable number of
people living in poverty, access to financial services is an
There is a sizable global market opportunity for fintech.
important challenge. This initiative will create opportunity to
However, access to a number of markets is impeded by the
better financial services to the estimated 26 million Filipinos
unbanked group, who have a deep mistrust of financial
who are still living below the poverty line.
institutions and choose to conduct all-cash transactions. To
alleviate this challenge, fintech companies have come up
FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN NIGERIA
with innovations that promote transparency in their dealings
with customers. Examples of these innovations include
Financial inclusion has continued to assume increasing
telematics insurance technologies that provide policy
recognition across the globe among policy makers,
owners with premium rates based on number of miles used;
researchers and development oriented agencies. Its importance
digital currency transactions that use blockchain ledgers to
derives from the promise it holds as a tool for economic
reveal the nature of dealings and identities of players in the
development, particularly in the areas of poverty reduction,
online sphere; robo-advisers that openly disclose and offer
employment generation, wealth creation and improving
low fees for customers who have limited access to
welfare and general standard of living.
traditional financial advisers due to high costs; and peer-to-
Nigeria’s growing population is estimated to be 190 million
peer (P2P) lending sites that promote financial transactions
people. Nearly 97 million Nigerians are living in extreme
where individuals lend and borrow from each other. P2P
poverty, according and Nigerians are living to the World
lending is particularly beneficial to emerging-market
Poverty Clock. And even more concerning is that the same
participants who have no way of getting loans from financial
monitoring tool indicates that the country’s poverty level is on
institutions due to a lack of financial history and credit
a continuous and rapid rise, with about six people falling into
record for each individual.
poverty every minute. A lack of access to basic amenities such
as food and water, an increased spread of diseases and
With the rise and rise of fintech, financial inclusion seeks to
mortality rates, against the country’s high corruption levels,
promote the betterment of the world's population through
poor educational system, and underutilization of resources are
the use of financial services and tools available in an
just a few of the factors which cause, make up, and enhance
increasingly digital-based economy.
this dire situation. Despite the country’s economic growth, in
February this year, it was reported by the AfDB that over 150
FINANCIAL INCLUSION INITIATIVES BY SOME
million Nigerians (81% of the population) live on less than $2
COUNTRIES
a day – a 20% increase in people since 2014.
FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN THE PHILIPPINES
Four million unbanked Filipinos are seen to benefit from the
nascent credit scoring industry, a development that is seen to
serve the people that is classified at the bottom of the
economy an easy access to credit once the service is
available to the public. Marlo R. Cruz, president and chief
executive officer of CIBI Information, Inc. (CIBI) as one of
the accredited credit bureaus in the Philippines, highlighted
that this is expected to unlock much economic potential in
sectors of the economy that are crucial for inclusive growth. Access to financial services such as banking, lending services,
micro-financing, and economic resources, i.e., financial
inclusion have long been heralded as a way to reduce poverty.
Increased banking deposits provide available credit for all
people across countries, and enable increased consumption
and investment, which help to drive economic growth, and in
turn, job creation. Ghana, Uganda and India have established
and adopted financial inclusion strategies as a means to
reducing poverty, and now find themselves seeing significant
results.
As per Cruz, "Many people still do not realize that the value
of having a credit opportunity is synonymous to generating
financial power. Creditworthiness is the same as to owning a
keycard that can be used in navigating to the society of
better possibilities". In Uganda, inclusion rates have been on the rise (from 28% in
2009 to 85% in 2017), and the government has developed its
national financial inclusion strategy for 2017 to 2022 to
accelerate this further. Ghana has had even more success in
correlating its financial inclusion strategies with poverty
reduction – from an inclusion rate of 41% in 2014, to 58% in
2017, also reflected in mobile money usage, which grew from
13% to 39% in the same period, the poverty population in
Ghana declined from 24% in 2013 to 13% in 2018.
To start with, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reports
on Financial Inclusion Initiatives and Financial Inclusion in
the Philippines summarizes the country’s accomplishments
and significant milestones in financial inclusion. These
reports show that 4 out of 10 Filipinos saved
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