Context:

Financial sector authorities increasingly recognise the value of diverse financial markets that include a range of financial service providers, and increasingly prioritise financial inclusion and financial consumer protection alongside existing priorities of stability and integrity. More than 60 countries have launched or are in the process of developing national financial inclusion strategies. However, in more than 65 economies, the majority of adults remain excluded from the formal financial system.

The private sector is rapidly innovating to develop and scale new digital financial products and delivery channels to reach previously underserved consumers. Financial sector authorities are increasingly focused on enabling innovation while managing risks, improving financial consumer protections, and enhancing the financial capabilities of consumers to ensure that the benefits of financial inclusion are fully realised. Reforms pursued seek to allow new types of financial service providers to enter the market, including microfinance institutions and nonbank e-money issuers.

The study:

The objective of the 2017 Global Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection (FICP) Survey was to provide a timely source of global data to benchmark efforts by financial sector authorities to improve the enabling environment for financial inclusion and consumer protection. The survey covered issues including financial inclusion, financial consumer protection and financial capability. This report presents main findings from financial sector authorities in 124 jurisdictions, representing 141 economies and more than 90 percent of the world’s unbanked adult population.

Survey respondents were asked to segment financial service providers regulated in their jurisdiction into six institutional categories: commercial banks, other banks, financial cooperatives, other deposit-taking institutions, microcredit institutions (MCIs), and nonbank e-money issuers. The survey questionnaire covered key topics related to financial inclusion and financial consumer protection and regulated retail institutions that provide standard loan, deposit, or payment services. The survey sought to understand the extent to which efforts to increase financial inclusion and financial consumer protection developments have impacted users of financial services, and to what extent further progress still needs to be made.

Key findings:

• . Diverse financial markets can lead to innovation and improved consumer choice and should be encouraged.

• for Financial Consumer Protection. Over 95 percent of responding jurisdictions have some form of legal framework for financial consumer protection, though approaches vary. Survey results indicate—and diagnostic work by the WBG confirms—that many jurisdictions have overlapping, conflicting, or incomplete legal frameworks for financial consumer protection.

Points to consider:

• This is an in depth report which looks at issues related to financial inclusion and consumer protection at a global level.
• The report is detailed and refers to a wide range of financial products and innovations, however it is not always clear how specific findings relate to the reports overall purpose.
• There is little discussion of the survey and research methodology in the publication.

• The report is highly relevant to any study of financial inclusion and consumer protection at a global level.

• The study is global and its conclusions are hence transferable to a wide variety of countries and contexts. It has a global focus, covering 140 countries.