{ "title": "IMF Releases the 2017 Financial Access Survey, Tracking Access to Financial Services", "publication": "IMF News, October 2, 2017", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey", "overlayPath": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/index.md", "summary": "Press Release No. 17/383", "publishDate": "2017-10-02", "sections": [ { "heading": "Overview", "content": "- Press Release No. 17/383\n- October 2, 2017\n- IMF Communications Department, MEDIA RELATIONS — PRESS OFFICER: Pemba Sherpa; Phone: +1 202 623-7100; Email: MEDIA@IMF.org\n- The Financial Access Survey (FAS) is in its eighth annual round and collects annual administrative data on indicators tracking financial access from traditional (e.g., commercial banks or other deposit-taking institutions) and digital (e.g., mobile money) financial service providers." }, { "heading": "Key findings on financial access and inclusion", "content": "- FAS provides insights on availability and use of financial products such as consumer and firm deposit accounts, loans, and insurance policies across the globe.\n- Two Sustainable Development Goals indicators show progress: the number of bank branches and automated teller machines (ATMs), with most growth concentrated in Asia.\n- Regional disparities:\n - Sub-Saharan Africa has on average five times fewer bank branches and ATMs per adult than the rest of the world.\n- Digital financial services expansion:\n - Innovations such as mobile money services continue to make inroads.\n - In Afghanistan, there are now more than six times as many mobile money agents as ATMs, facilitating direct deposit of payroll for civil servants through their mobile phones." }, { "heading": "Gender-disaggregated data and gaps", "content": "- Growing demand for more granular data led the FAS to collaborate with national authorities to assess capacity to extract gender-disaggregated financial access statistics from administrative sources.\n- Newly available data suggest a financial access gender gap:\n - On average, women hold 40 percent of deposit accounts.\n - On average, women receive a similar proportion of outstanding loans.\n- Country-specific progress examples:\n - Malaysia saw its share of female borrowers increase from 37 percent in 2004 to 44 percent in 2016.\n- The historical perspective from these data enables policy-relevant research questions, including the causality between loans tailored to women entrepreneurs and the share of female borrowers." }, { "heading": "Data availability and support", "content": "- The FAS has been conducted since 2009 with financial support from the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.\n- The latest FAS data and country-specific metadata are available free of charge at http://data.imf.org/FAS.\n\nSource: IMF Press Release No. 17/383, October 2, 2017.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the IMF\n- Malaysia and the IMF\n- Press Releases\n- PRESS CENTER\n- http://data.imf.org/FAS\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/bundle-manifest.json)", "Published: October 2, 2017", "Press Release No. 17/383", "October 2, 2017", "IMF Communications Department, MEDIA RELATIONS — PRESS OFFICER: Pemba Sherpa; Phone: +1 202 623-7100; Email: MEDIA@IMF.org", "The Financial Access Survey (FAS) is in its eighth annual round and collects annual administrative data on indicators tracking financial access from traditional (e.g., commercial banks or other deposit-taking institutions) and digital (e.g., mobile money) financial service providers.", "FAS provides insights on availability and use of financial products such as consumer and firm deposit accounts, loans, and insurance policies across the globe.", "Two Sustainable Development Goals indicators show progress: the number of bank branches and automated teller machines (ATMs), with most growth concentrated in Asia.", "Regional disparities:", "Digital financial services expansion:", "Growing demand for more granular data led the FAS to collaborate with national authorities to assess capacity to extract gender-disaggregated financial access statistics from administrative sources.", "Newly available data suggest a financial access gender gap:", "Country-specific progress examples:", "The historical perspective from these data enables policy-relevant research questions, including the causality between loans tailored to women entrepreneurs and the share of female borrowers.", "The FAS has been conducted since 2009 with financial support from the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.", "The latest FAS data and country-specific metadata are available free of charge at http://data.imf.org/FAS.", "[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/AFG/index.htm)", "[Malaysia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/MYS/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)" ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/index.md", "json": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2017/10/02/pr17383-imf-releases-2017-financial-access-survey/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-25T21:14:34.746Z" }