Financial inclusion - new paradigm shift for Asean

MOBILE money, mobile points of sale and digital payments have largely dominated the conversation around digital finance in recent years. Indeed, digital finance, powered through mobile technologies, has opened up new channels to access financial services at lower transaction costs.

For the emerging economies of the region, this carries tremendous potential to unlock economic opportunities for individuals and small businesses, many of whom are unbanked and have no credit access.

It is widely cited that nearly 80 per cent of adults in emerging economies had a mobile phone in 2014, while only 55 per cent had financial accounts. According to GSMA's State of the Industry Report on Mobile Financial Services released in 2016, mobile money is available in 85 per cent of emerging economies with the majority of their populations short of access to banking facilities.