According to a World Bank report, WOMEN, young Filipinos and the underprivileged are at a disadvantage when it comes to owning bank accounts in the Philippines.
The World Bank’s 2021 Findex Global Database showed that the gender gap in account ownership in the Philippines is 8 percentage points, and the age gap is 15 percentage points.
The report says that the income gap in terms of account holders in the Philippines and Turkey remains at more than 20 percentage points.
“The very large increase in the gender gap in the Philippines and the significant reduction in Pakistan is difficult to explain. In 2021, the gap between men and women was negative in only five countries, while the gaps for India, the Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka were zero.” – Peter J. Morgan, Senior Consulting Economist and Advisor to the Dean, Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), blogged Asiapathways.
The report notes that in East Asia and the Pacific, to which the Philippines belongs, there was “virtually no gender gap” with respect to account holders in Indonesia, Mongolia and Thailand.
The age gap in account ownership in the Philippines is similar to the global age gap but has been described worse compared to China and Turkey where there is no significant difference in account ownership between age groups.
The report also states that Myanmar, another member country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), where young people are 11 percentage points more likely to have an account than older people.
Regarding the income gap of account holders, the World Bank said that many developing countries, such as the Philippines, still have an income gap that is in the double digits.
The report says that in Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia, where the share of account holders ranges from 45 to 66 percent, the gap is more than 20 percentage points.
However, the World Bank said that Mongolia and Thailand have already achieved near-universal account ownership, with near-equal coverage of richer and poorer adults.
“Gender and income are not the only individual characteristics that seem to matter for the likelihood of account ownership. Age, education level, employment status, and rural residence are associated with significant disparities in account ownership,” the report says.
If these underserved sectors such as women are given access to the accounts, the report says, these women will be more empowered and have a stronger voice in the household financially.
The report says a study in the Philippines found that women who used savings products that encourage regular deposits into a personal bank account increased their decision-making power at home.
This financial independence has also shifted their families’ spending on household goods that fit their needs, such as washing machines.
Morgan said part of the effort to improve access to bank accounts is the use of financial technology (fintech), such as having a mobile money account or making or receiving a digital transfer.
While this may highlight the need to bridge the digital divide, fintech still offers opportunities to access financial services not only for women, but also for young people and people on low incomes.
“With fintech expected to play an important role in advancing financial inclusion, the digital gender divide threatens to be a major barrier to women’s greater financial inclusion,” Morgan said.
“This points to the need for policies to increase both access to digital finance and women’s digital financial literacy,” he added.
