(BusinessMirror) TWO years ago, then central bank Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. set out to put the country shoulder to shoulder with 14 nations in the world. It was a noble ambition.
The impetus came along with the release of the World Bank’s comprehensive database on global financial inclusion. The 2017 Global Findex database, a data set that is published every three years, showed that the Philippines has one of the weakest financial inclusion coverages in the region, as reflected by the low account-penetration in its adult population.
In particular, only 34 percent of the country’s adult population has a form of formal relationship with a bank or a financial institution. This pales in comparison with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and five additional countries namely Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand; collectively known as the Asean+5.
In the Asean+5 bloc, Singapore had the highest account penetration with 98 percent of its adult population being included in their financial system. This is followed by Malaysia’s 85 percent, Thailand’s 82 percent and Indonesia’s 49 percent… Read More