Economy

Bank account ownership grew more in Latin America than in any other global region

Brazil experienced double-digit bank account ownership growth since 2017. Global Findex, a World Bank report produced with Gallup every three years, surveyed over 125,000 adults in 123 economies

Bank account ownership grew more in Latin America than any other global region
Pataxó indigenous people in Porto Seguro, Bahia, accepting credit card payments for sale of souvenirs to tourists. Photo: Joa Souza/Shutterstock

Latin America is the global region with the most growth in bank account ownership in the last four years, according to the Global Findex 2021, a World Bank report on the financial industry that is produced every three years in partnership with Gallup. 

Growth of 18 percent was recorded in the region, with more than 73 percent of Latin Americans holding bank accounts last year, compared to just 55 percent in 2017.  

This latest report illustrates how emergency measures to mitigate the effects of the international sanitary crisis in recent years set the stage for exponential digitization and financial inclusion – as predicted by many governments and fintech companies since the coronavirus became an ubiquitous issue of our lives in 2020.  

On a global scale, the share of adults with an account at a bank or other regulated institution such as a credit union, microfinance institution, or a mobile money service provider is a little higher than that in Latin America, at 76 percent. 

That global rate increased by 50 percent in the past ten years, while Latin America’s went up by 34.1 percent over the same span. 

However, over 94 million Latin American adults are still unbanked, and do not use formal banking systems.  And, nearly a third (29 percent) of them are in Brazil.

Cash remains king for many, and the use of paper money is still a persistent cultural trait in Latin America.  However, as governments offered financial subsistence to families in the region during the pandemic, many opened bank accounts and began using digital financial services for the first time.  Otherwise, they had no means to receive payment. 

In Brazil, 18 percent of adults used a digital account to pay a utility bill for the first time during the pandemic, as did 11 percent of adults in Argentina — and 15 percent...

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