A Data-Driven Path to Women's Financial Inclusion
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A Data-Driven Path to Women’s Financial Inclusion: Insights from Financial Service Providers financial services professionals, including representa- tives from commercial banks, fintechs, payment provid- Executive Summary ers, multilaterals, and insurance companies along with As more financial service providers (FSPs) across the wealth managers, investors, data scientists, data aggre- world increase their efforts toward inclusion, data is gators, academics, and industry leaders. These knowl- playing an important role in unlocking the market op- edge exchanges revealed how much potential lies in portunity that women represent. But although finan- the use of data not only to drive financial inclusion but cial inclusion data is becoming increasingly available to also to hasten the closing of the gender gap when it FSPs, significant gaps persist when it comes to collect- comes to women’s access and use of financial services. ing and effectively using sex-disaggregated data. We The discussions also highlighted the state of the wom- are at a critical point where we must embrace the chal- en’s financial inclusion data field and the opportunities lenge of closing gender data gaps to continue the in- and challenges ahead. dustry’s momentum towards inclusive finance. Women’s financial inclusion data is a catalyst for action. The Women’s Financial Inclusion Data (WFID) Part- It can be both a diagnostic tool for the state of inclu- nership works to increase awareness about the im- sion and a driver of change by revealing where inter- portance of sex-disaggregated financial services ventions are needed. data and to coordinate efforts and interventions Gender data can help FSPs find new market opportu- to maximize its collection and use. WFID partners nities; develop a strategic rationale; track performance include the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), and profitability of their products and programs; and Data2X, the Financial Alliance for Women, the In- therefore support sustainable business strategies for ter-American Development Bank (IDB), IDB Invest, the women’s market. the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisa- Both supply- and demand-side sex-disaggregated data tion for Economic Co-operation and Development is necessary. Supply-side data demonstrates how finan- (OECD), the UN Capital Development Fund (UN- cial services are accessed and used, and demand-side CDF) and the World Bank Group (WBG). The part- data shows how women experience (or not) these fi- nership is convened by Data2X, a gender data alli- nancial services. ance housed at the United Nations Foundation. The Women’s Financial Inclusion Data (WFID) Partner- ship’s Global Gender Data Strategy,1 developed with McKinsey & Co., found that there was robust data avail- This report gathers key insights and cases discussed able on the global female economy and the size of the during the roundtables and is complemented by addi- women’s market opportunity (mostly from market re- tional primary and secondary research conducted be- search or demand-side data). However, more granu- fore and after the series. lar, segment-level data was missing, as well as business performance data at the FSP level (mostly supply-side). Closing the gender data gaps in both the demand and the supply side will be critical to encouraging market With this in mind, Data2X’s WFID partnership, including entry of more FSPs and providing adequate informa- the Financial Alliance for Women, convened a dialogue tion for evidence-based policymaking. In doing so, the series titled “Data Driving Action for Women” in 2019. financial services sector has a significant opportunity to The series of three roundtables held in New York, Paris drive the financial inclusion of women and, in turn, sus- and San Francisco brought together approximately 100 tainable economic growth. Mapping the State of Women’s Financial Inclusion “To solve women’s financial exclusion, our starting point Finding a New Opportunity in a Crowded Market should be data.” In 2012, BLC Bank in Lebanon developed the – Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Women’s Empowerment Initiative (the WE Ini- the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate tiative), which is the first and only complete for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) program dedicated to the financial empower- ment of women in the Middle East. For BLC, this presented a new market opportunity in Leba- We have a much more detailed understanding of the non’s crowded financial services market, where state of women’s financial inclusion today than ever be- 63 banks serve 2.8 million depositors. Although fore, due in part to the dedicated efforts of WFID part- market-level data on women was scarce, the ners, private sector actors, and global business consul- bank analyzed its internal customer data by sex tancy firms. and segment and conducted extensive market New analyses of sex-disaggregated data continue to research on both women and men’s distinct demonstrate that financial inclusion gender gaps are needs to create a holistic proposition. Their re- stubbornly persistent despite meaningful advances in search led them to develop both financial and other quality-of-life indicators across the world. non-financial solutions for women customers, including financial and technical training, mar- The World Bank’s Global Findex has tracked global ket exposure opportunities, and advisory ser- progress in financial inclusion between 2011 and 2017. vices. In 2015, BLC developed a business case Although women’s account ownership at financial in- estimating that the program yielded an IRR stitutions has risen by 17 percentage points during this of over 30 percent. This data-driven approach period, the gap between men and women’s account helped the bank ensure the program became ownership remained persistent at 7 percentage points part of its core strategy. The WE Initiative has globally. continued to expand for the past eight years, helping BLC Bank to be consistently recognized This data, while essential, only tells part of the story. as the Bank of Choice for Women in Lebanon. Many global studies have leveraged existing databas- es, analyzed them on a sex-disaggregated basis, and found a more nuanced understanding of women’s cur- rent financial experiences and needs. Moreover, many of these studies have also uncovered notable opportu- nities that show the power of sex-disaggregated data. 2 A Data-Driven Path to Women’s Financial Inclusion: Insights from Financial Service Providers Global Progress in Women’s Financial Inclusion Between 2011 and 2017 Gaps Opportunities Economic The economic participation Gender parity would add as much Participation gender gap has closed by just as an estimated $12 trillion to 0.15 percentage points every global GDP by 2025. 3 year during 2006–2019. 2 Wealth Women hold 40 percent of the If women’s wealth management world’s wealth.4 and business relationships were managed like men’s, FSPs would see an additional $105 billion in revenue.5 Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial activity for 231 million women are starting or women globally is about running new businesses around three-quarters that of men.6 the world.7 Account Access The gender gap in account Reaching global parity in ownership globally closed by checking and savings accounts just 1 percentage point in the could generate an estimated last 7 years reported. 8 $15 billion in annual revenues.9 Account Usage Women micro, small, and me- If women and women-owned en- dium enterprises (MSMEs) lack terprises had equal access to cred- of access to finance is valued at it it would generate an addition- $1.7 trillion.10 al estimated $95 billion in interest and fees. 11 Insurance Women’s life insurance coverage If insurers sold life insurance to in the US is half the average women at the same proportion of value of men’s.12 their income as they do to men, they would net an estimated $100 billion in additional profits.13 Digital Channels 165 million fewer women than Banks that successfully use digital men own a mobile phone in technologies could realize a profit low- and middle-income upside of 40 percent or more.15 countries.14 A Data-Driven Path to Women’s Financial Inclusion: Insights from Financial Service Providers 3 A Wealth of Opportunities from Gender Data In addition, women’s access to credit remains curtailed, “I describe it almost as a problem but many financial institutions are not analyzing their portfolios to understand these gaps. Member data hiding in plain sight.… because [for from the Financial Alliance for Women’s “Economics of Banking on Women” annual survey revealed that wom- the Alison Rose Review of Female en represent only 18 percent of credit portfolios, yet their non-performing rates are consistently lower than Entrepreneurship] we did a huge men’s.18 Women’s higher repayment rates are widely at- tributed to women being more risk-averse than men. amount of interviews and data However, research has shown that income uncertain- ty and net worth may be the main drivers of women’s analysis, to really get to the root more conservative financial behavior.19 Complementa- ry demand and supply side sex-disaggregated data can of the problem and… quantify the help us move beyond these perceptions by providing a more complete picture of the structural inequalities opportunity.” that condition women’s financial behaviors. – Alison Rose, CEO, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Likewise, sex-disaggregated data can uncover the struc- tural reasons behind why women remain unbanked. For instance, there is a strong correlation between the un- The promise of the data revolution has the potential banked population and low educational outcomes and to truly accelerate the financial inclusion of women. As unemployment and/or self-employment.20 This means more sex-disaggregated data becomes available, it will that to address the issue of access, FSPs cannot rely ex- yield more actionable insights for multilaterals, govern- clusively on financial product innovation.