Digital Finance to Bank the Unbanked Can Boost Gross Domestic Product By As Much as Six Percent in Southeast Asia
February 01, 2017
Singapore, January 31, 2017— Digital technology that promotes financial inclusion can increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by as much as six percent for economies in Southeast Asia, according to a new report titled “Accelerating Financial Inclusion in Southeast Asia with Digital Finance.” The report is jointly published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, and financial inclusion-focused consulting firm MicroSave.
The study, which examines digital finance in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines, is derived from interviews with more than 80 stakeholders across the four markets, extensive secondary research, and economic analysis.
Promoting the use of formal financial services continues to be a challenge in the region and the depth of engagement varies with different financial products. Among the study’s findings, only 18 percent of adults use a bank account to receive wages or pay utility bills and only 11 percent borrow from formal sources.
“ADB sees financial inclusion as an essential part of financial sector development,” said Michael Barrow, Director General of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department. “Without access to formal financial services, the unserved and underserved segments of society will be excluded from growth and its benefits. Digital finance presents a unique and potentially transformative opportunity to advance financial inclusion.”
The research finds that digital financial solutions could play a significant part in closing gaps in financial inclusion, addressing about 40 percent of the volume of unmet demand for payment services and 20 percent of the unmet credit needs in the base of pyramid and micro, small, and medium enterprises segments.
Digital financial solutions will have the most significant impact on financial inclusion in five key areas:
- Enabling fast, low-cost, and convenient customer identification and verification processes;
- Improving supply-side economics with last mile distribution and servicing enabled by mobile phones and point-of-sale devices;
- Supporting supply-side business cases with initial push in government-to-person payments and remittance flows;
- Enhancing access to alternative sources of data to improve customer profiling, credit risk assessment, and fraud detection;
- Mobilizing micro-saving through lower cost digital origination and servicing channels.
“For this opportunity to be realized, collaboration by different participants in the ecosystem will be critical,” according to Duncan Woods, Head of Oliver Wyman’s Retail & Business Practice in Asia-Pacific. “Public policy and regulatory guidelines can provide the framework to stimulate the development of digital financial solutions, which we expect will materialize through collaborations between banks, telecommunications and financial technology firms, and NGOs, each bringing specific capabilities along each part of the financial value chain.”
While digital finance alone cannot close the gaps in financial inclusion, the effect of leveraging digital technology to bank the unbanked could boost GDP by two percent to three percent in markets like Indonesia and the Philippines, and six percent in Cambodia.
Making the most of this opportunity could also help influence the financial services industry, particularly in smaller markets such as Cambodia and Myanmar, where only a small percentage of the current needs for financial services are met by formal providers.
“Digital finance is the new normal in banking. Financial institutions will have to make this transition and develop distribution models and products for digital finance,” said Manoj Sharma, Managing Director of MicroSave in Asia.
About Asian Development Bank
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 marked 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region.
About MicroSave
MicroSave is an international financial inclusion consulting firm with nearly 20 years of experience, operating in eleven offices across Asia and Africa. Our mission is to strengthen the capacity of institutions to deliver market-led, scalable financial services for all. We guide policy, provide customised strategic advice and on the ground implementation support to our partners, in key thematic areas such as Digital Financial Services, Inclusive Finance and Banking, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Private Sector Development in developing markets. For more information please visit www.microsave.net. Follow MicroSave on Twitter @MicroSave.
About Oliver Wyman
With offices in 50+ cities across 26 countries, Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting that combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation. Oliver Wyman is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies [NYSE: MMC]. For more information on Oliver Wyman visit www.oliverwyman.com. Follow Oliver Wyman on Twitter @OliverWyman.