## IMF Releases the 2016 Financial Access Survey, A Key Tool to Foster Financial Inclusion

_IMF News, October 3, 2016_

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: October 3, 2016

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### Summary overview
- Press Release No. 16/441; October 3, 2016; IMF Communications Department.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the results of the seventh annual Financial Access Survey (FAS).
- The FAS provides administrative-data-based indicators on availability and use of financial products (deposit accounts, loans, insurance policies) by individuals and firms across the globe.
- Data sources include traditional financial service providers (commercial banks, microfinance institutions, other deposit-taking institutions) and providers of digital financial services (mobile money).

### Coverage, scope, and data access
- The FAS database contains more than 150 series for up to 189 economies spanning the period 2004-15.
- The latest FAS data and accompanying metadata are available free of charge on the IMF website.
- The FAS has been conducted since 2009.
- Financial support for the FAS has been provided by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

### Role in global indicators and policy use
- The FAS has been an official recognized source of the G-20 Financial Inclusion Indicators since those indicators were launched in 2012.
- The role of digital financial services in promoting financial inclusion was explicitly recognized under the Chinese G-20 Presidency, leading to a revision and expansion of the G-20 Financial Inclusion Indicators.
- The FAS information can help policymakers identify opportunities to foster financial inclusion and allows analysts to study linkages between financial inclusion and financial stability, income inequality, and economic growth.

### Findings on digital financial services and mobile money
- Digital financial services are gaining traction in an increasing number of economies, with differing recent experiences across countries.
- Example comparisons:
  - In economies where mobile money services have been available for eight years or more (such as Malaysia or Zambia), there is on average one mobile money account for every three adults.
  - In economies where mobile money services only became available in the past few years (such as Guyana and Solomon Islands), accounts are not yet as widespread, but take-up rates are promising.
- Growth metric: On average the number of mobile money accounts per adult grew by 2 percent annually over the past three years.

### Gender-related statistics pilot
- Growing interest in gender-related statistics on financial inclusion prompted a recent small survey of national authorities to assess capacity to compile and disseminate these statistics from administrative sources.
- The results of this pilot will be made available on the FAS website (http://data.imf.org/FAS) later this year.

### Contact and media relations
- MEDIA RELATIONS; PRESS OFFICER: Bruno Pierre Silvestre.
- Phone: +1 202 623-7100
- Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

*IMF Press Release No. 16/441, October 3, 2016.*

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## References

- [Guyana and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/GUY/index.htm)
- [Malaysia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/MYS/index.htm)
- [Solomon Islands and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/SLB/index.htm)
- [Zambia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/ZMB/index.htm)
- [Press Releases](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)
- [PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)
- [http://data.imf.org/FAS](http://data.imf.org/FAS)
- [https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2016/10/03/pr16441-imf-releases-the-2016-financial-access-survey_