Access to finance

Access to finance is the ability of individuals or enterprises to obtain financial services, including credit, deposit, payment, insurance, and other risk management services. Those who involuntarily have no or only limited access to financial services are referred to as the unbanked or underbanked, respectively.

Accumulated evidence has shown that financial access promotes growth for enterprises through the provision of credit to both new and existing businesses. It benefits the economy in general by accelerating economic growth, intensifying competition, as well as boosting demand for labor. The incomes of those in the lower end of the income ladder will typically rise hence reducing income inequality and poverty.

The lack of financial access limits the range of services and credits for household and enterprises. Poor individuals and small enterprises need to rely on their personal wealth or internal resources to invest in their education and businesses, which limits their full potential and leading to the cycle of persistent inequality and diminished growth.

Access to finance varies greatly between countries and ranges from about 5 percent of the adult population in Papua New Guinea and Tanzania to 100 percent in the Netherlands (for a comprehensive list of estimated measures of access to finance across countries, see Demirgüç-Kunt, Beck, & Honohan, 2008, pp. 190–191).

Access to finance (the possibility that individuals or enterprises can access financial services) should be distinguished from the actual use of financial services, because non-use of finance can be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary non-users of financial services have access to but do not use financial services either because they have no need for those services or because they decided not to make use of such services due to cultural, religious, or other reasons.

Measuring financial access is essential for strengthening the link between theory and empirical evidence. Currently, the main proxy variables that measure financial access include: the number of bank accounts per 1,000 adults, number of bank branches per 100,000 adults, the percentage of firms with line of credit (large and small firms).

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