The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred financial inclusion - driving a large increase in digital payments amid the global expansion of formal financial services, according to the World Bank.

This expansion created new economic opportunities, narrowing the gender gap in account ownership, and building resilience at the household level to better manage financial shocks, according to the Global Findex 2021 database.

As of 2021, 76 per cent of adults globally now have an account at a bank, other financial institution, or with a mobile money provider, up from 68 per cent in 2017 and 51 per cent in 2011, according to a World Bank statement.

It is stressed that the growth in account ownership was evenly distributed across many more countries. While in previous Findex surveys over the last decade much of the growth was concentrated in India and China, this year’s survey found that the percentage of account ownership has increased by double digits in 34 countries since 2017.

The pandemic has also led to an increased use of digital payments. In low and middle-income economies (excluding China), over 40 per cent of adults who made merchant in-store or online payments using a card, phone, or the internet did so for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The same was true for more than a third of adults in all low- and middle-income economies who paid a utility bill directly from a formal account. In India, more than 80 million adults made their first digital merchant payment after the start of the pandemic, while in China over 100 million adults did.

Two-thirds of adults worldwide now make or receive a digital payment, with the share in developing economies growing from 35 per cent in 2014 to 57 per cent in 2021. In developing economies, 71 per cent have an account at a bank, other financial institution, or with a mobile money provider, up from 63 per cent in 2017 and 42 per cent in 2011.

“The digital revolution has catalyzed increases in the access and use of financial services across the world, transforming ways in which people make and receive payments, borrow and save. Creating an enabling policy environment, promoting the digitalization of payments, and further broadening access to formal accounts and financial services among women and the poor are some of the policy priorities to mitigate the reversals in development from the ongoing overlapping crises” said World Bank Group President David Malpass.

“The world has a crucial opportunity to build a more inclusive and resilient economy and provide a gateway to prosperity for billions of people. By investing in digital public infrastructure and technologies for payment and ID systems and updating regulations to foster innovation and protect consumers, governments can build on the progress reported in the Findex and expand access to financial services for all who need them,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the supporters of the Global Findex database.

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