Indicators of Financial Access - Household-level Surveys

This present note is focused primarily to enable the development of a minimum set of indicators, for the purpose of constructing an internationally comparable database of one dimension of financial access, for individuals and households. Monitoring and measuring levels of access to formal financial services can contribute to achieving goals of growth and poverty alleviation. The document further elaborates on underlying concepts for the construction of indicators. The construction of the indicators rests upon at least four core concepts embedded in the following questions:

• Do we distinguish between the usage of financial services and access to such services?
• In what dimension do we measure access?
• How do we differentiate between lower and higher levels of access?
• For whom do we measure access - the individual or the household?

Finally, the note lists the broad set of proposed indicators:Core indicators and a headline indicator:

• The first set of simple and compelling household access indicators aims to give a broad overview of who has access to what financial services:
  • The banked;
  • The formally included;
  • The financially served.
• The second group of core indicators looks in greater detail at the kinds of financial services offered:
  • Payments;
  • Savings;
  • Loans and credit.

Sub-indicators:

• Additional indicators can be constructed to measure other dimensions of financial access.
  • A measure of financial access for the poor;
  • A measure of indirect or household financial access.