1. Financial Inclusion Insights
Researching Financial Services for the Poor
February 27, 2015
Photo from Indian village during focus groups. Courtesy of IMRB.

2. What is financial inclusion?
Financial Inclusion: financially included individuals are those with a bank, non-bank financial institution
or registered mobile money account at an institution offering financial services beyond credit/lending.
More than 50 countries’ governments across Latin America, Africa and Asia have
committed to increasing access to financial services via the Maya Declaration.
Image from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion website. www.afi-global.org

3. Why does financial inclusion matter for people?
Living on <$2.50/day
Cash only
transactions
Saving is difficult
Paying bills time
consuming, costly
Save
50¢/week X 52 weeks
=
$26
Through financial inclusion
Cover unexpected
expenses
More time for work
More time for family,
personal development
Less time, money
spent paying bills
Financially excluded people are often Allows them to
Save for marriage,
children’s education

4. Why now? Why measure it?
There are more than 2.7 billion unbanked individuals in the world, 1 billion of
whom own mobile phones.
Formal financial service providers frequently don’t have the financial incentive to
open bank branches that can readily serve these communities.
Mobile banking and mobile money services are an opportunity to provide these
services without a brick-and-mortar bank branch.
Data on financial inclusion helps
 Policy makers to track goals, support objectives with facts
 Financial service providers better understand consumers and their needs

5. • InterMedia is an independent, global consultancy with expertise in research and evaluation,
particularly in conflict-affected and hard to reach low- and middle-income countries.
Who is InterMedia?
What research are we doing on financial inclusion?
InterMedia-Gates Research on Financial Services, Financial Inclusion
Haiti Mobile Money
Tracker (HMMT)
Tanzania Mobile Money
Tracker (TMMT)
Financial Inclusion Tracker
Surveys (FITS)
Financial Inclusion Insights
Program (FII)
2011 2011 2012 to present 2013 to present

6. Provides timely, demand-side data and
practical insights into:
• Digital financial services (DFS)
• Mobile phone usage
• Financial Literacy
• Economic vulnerability
• Financial behaviors
• Track access to and demand for financial
services generally, and the uptake and use of DFS
specifically;
• Measure adoption and use of DFS among key
target groups (females, BOP, rural, unbanked, etc.);
• Identify drivers and barriers to further adoption
of DFS;
• Produce actionable, forward-looking insights
to support product and service development and
delivery, based on rigorous FII data
Financial Inclusion: financially included individuals are those with a bank, non-bank financial institution
or registered mobile money account at an institution offering financial services beyond credit/lending.
Background on the FII research

7. “What is the situation on the ground, and what characterizes different
segments of the population?”
“Are there year-on-year changes in individuals’ behaviors, preferences?”
“What do we need to know or do to help individuals be financially stable, responsible and
productive”
“How can our collective knowledge help inform smart strategy for DFS in the
marketplace?”
Key questions we seek to answer for Gates, other stakeholders

8. FII program countries
Conducting similar research in other countries in the near future

9. Methodology – what are key components of ours? What alternatives might
we have considered?
Large samples
Long questionnaires
Face-to-face
Interviews
Nationally
representative
Small samples
Online, telephone,
computer-assisted
Not nationally
representative
Short questionnaires
FII Methodology Potential Alternatives

10. What are issues we’ve faced in the field through FII or other research
programs?
Logistics Challenges
• Holidays
• Weather
• Lack of infrastructure
• Subcontractor fraud
• Cultural concerns
• Threats of violence against researchers, team
• Political unrest
• Terrorism/violence
• Corruption
Issues of anti-Western sentiment, threats of violence near training and
interview sites in Northern Nigeria during InterMedia’s 2014 health research.
(Photo courtesy of Scott Gardner)
Flooding during India fieldwork made travelling to interview
locations difficult. (Photo courtesy of Gayatri Murthy)

11. Key findings
Urban men above the poverty line are most
likely to be financially included.
Nigeria
Bank Dominant Mobile Money Dominant Mix of the Two
Tanzania
India
Indonesia
Kenya
Bangladesh
Regardless of poverty level, financially included
individuals are more likely to be able to generate
savings, prepare for financial shocks

12. Agricultural Sector Workers in Uganda
42%
24%
35%
Own or work on a farm
Employed but not on a farm
Farm workers or owners in Uganda
(Shown: percentage adults ages 15+, N=3,000)
34% report their main
job is working on or
owning a farm
What can we learn?
Source: InterMedia Uganda FII Tracker survey (N=3,000, 15+) June-July 2014.
Unemployed
58%
72%
77%
57%
49%
89%
Common financial behaviors of Indonesian youth vs older adults
(Shown: Percentage of adults aged 15 to 35, n=2,399; adults over 35, n=3,601)
Adults over 35 Youth (adults 15 to 35 years old)
Pay bills
Purchase airtime
Send/receive remittances
Indonesian Youth
59%
5%
84% 80%
Employment and mobile ownership of men vs women
(Shown: Percentage of men, women)
Can access a mobile phone Employed
(in income-generating activity)
Men
(n=3,144)
Women
(n=2,856)
66% of unemployed women rely on
their spouse as the main source of money
for daily expenses. Conversely, just 2%
of men are in a similar situation.Men
(n=3,144)
Women
(n=2,856)
18% of women without access
do not have it because their
spouse does not allow them to.
Pakistani Women
*Youth as defined by the ASEAN Youth Forum.
Source: InterMedia Indonesia FII Tracker survey (N=6,000, 15+) August-November 2014.
Source: InterMedia Pakistan FII Tracker survey (N=6,000, 15+) September-December 2014.

13. …diving deep into relationships
The most likely
financially
included:
Men in urban
areas, above the
poverty line and
better educated
Employment is
important in
Tanzania, but not
so much in
Uganda and
Kenya
Active registered
mobile money use
Poverty status
PREDICT
Registered
use of formal
full-service FIs
Level of education
Gender
Urbanicity
Employment status

14. …technical competency…
When controlling
for demographics
Active registered
mobile money
use
Diversity of
activities
performed on
a mobile
device
Ability to
perform
activities on a
mobile device
WITHOUT
help
Basic
operations
on a mobile
phone
PREDICT PREDICT
Understand-
ing text
messages
(SMS) from
organizations
Frequency
of sending/
receiving
text
messages
(SMS)

15. …and financial behaviors and literacy
When controlling for
demographics and
access to a mobile
device
Financial
knowledge,
skills and
behavior
Defined by indexed constructs:
• Financial plans
• Financial behaviors
• Financial numeracy
Predict
Active registered
mobile money
use

16. How has the FII research been used to push dialogue, change?
• “…I want to look at it from the ‘demand’ perspective – the
characteristics and expectations of the new consumer of financial
access, who is the target of the inclusion strategy. A recent consumer
survey carried out by InterMedia, titled ‘India: Financial Services Use
and Emerging Digital Pathways’, provides a basis for this.”
• “Mobile money and digitized payments have few takers: lack of
awareness and difficult access are the main hurdles.”
• “Research by Microsave, InterMedia and CGap has documented the
prevalence of agents charging unauthorised fees during over the
counter transactions where customers hand over their money to the
agent to transact on their behalf. Female customers also report
reluctance to provide their phone numbers to agents for fear of
harassment.”
~Subir Gokarn, Brookings India
~Live Mint from the Wall Street Journal
~Tanaya Kilara of CGap
via The Guardian’s “14 ways to promote more
responsible financial inclusion”
In the Media
InterMedia’s Gayatri Murthy presenting to central bank and other
stakeholders at Access India Summit 2014.

17. How can you access the FII data?
•
•
• Caldwell Bishop bishopc@intermedia.org
• Colleen Learch learchc@intermedia.org