How Smartphones Make the Difference for Financial Inclusion

We take for granted everything from making a contactless payment to contributing to a savings account – but it’s not like that for everyone. Millions of people around the world do not even have access to a bank account.

It might sound daft, but the assumption that everyone today has a bank account isn’t the case. In fact according to the World Bank, as many as 1.7 billion adults¹ are unbanked globally. 

It gets worse – 80% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa do not even use formal or semi-formal financial services. 

So how do the unbanked access financial services? Well two-thirds of them own a smartphone which presents a huge opportunity for financial inclusion through mobile accounts.

Explosion of smartphone owners globally

It’s an incredible growth story. According to Statista², the number of smartphone users worldwide has surpassed three billion and is forecast to grow further by several hundred million in the next few years. 

In Africa alone there are hundreds of millions of mobile users, which enables people, even in the most remote locations, to shop online via digital wallets. 

It’s simple. These wallets are linked to the user’s mobile phone account, which they can top up with cash and use to buy goods and services online.

Smartphone penetration is still growing

The smartphone market still has high growth potential, as the penetration rate is lower than 70 percent in many highly populated developing countries.

Then, when you add in the spread of mobile phones to all corners of the world, there is potential to deliver banking services to even more poor and rural areas. This means countless opportunities to improve lives.

There are still more hiccups to traverse of course. 

Of the unbanked, only half come from the poorest 40% of households within their economy. In fact, a lack of education and unemployment are only a small part of the picture – the cost of having a bank account and distance to the nearest bank are also contributing factors

Despite this, the potential for financially enabling many unbanked people is very promising indeed. 

Through the beauty of crypto, at hi we are well placed to embrace the smartphone revolution, and with membership free to all, no one will be excluded from using our services, nor will we mismanage their money with extortionate fees.

What’s more, our members around the globe can buy, exchange, and transfer money in real-time via social messengers on their smartphones, with industry leading security, no fees, no mark ups and are even rewarded for transactions and referrals. 

It’s not a difficult choice.  Financial inclusion for all, or a closed shop of high fees – we know which one we are going for.