Appendix I. FAS Indicators
This appendix lists 64 FAS indicators, which are derived based on 121 underlying time series submitted by country authorities to the FAS database.
Geographical Outreach
Number of Institutions
Branches of all microfinance institutions per 1,000 km²
Branches of all microfinance institutions per 100,000 adults
Branches of commercial banks per 1,000 km²
Branches of commercial banks per 100,000 adults
Branches of credit unions and credit cooperatives per 1,000 km²
Branches of credit unions and credit cooperatives per 100,000 adults
Insurance corporations per 100,000 adults
Branchless Banking
Automated Teller Machines per 1,000 km²
Automated Teller Machines per 100,000 adults
Non-branch retail agent outlets of commercial banks per 1000 km²
Non-branch retail agent outlets of commercial banks per 100,000 adults
Mobile Money
Registered mobile money agent outlets per 1,000 km²
Registered mobile money agent outlets per 100,000 adults
Active mobile money agent outlets per 1,000 km²
Active mobile money agent outlets per 100,000 adults
Use of Financial Services
Commercial Banks
Deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults
SME deposit accounts with commercial banks (percentage of nonfinancial corporations)
Household sector deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults
Men-owned deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 male adults
Women-owned deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 female adults
Depositors with commercial banks per 1,000 adults
SME depositors with commercial banks (percentage of nonfinancial corporations)
Household sector depositors with commercial banks per 1,000 adults
Male depositors with commercial banks per 1,000 male adults
Female depositors with commercial banks per 1,000 female adults
Loan accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults
SME loan accounts with commercial banks (percentage of nonfinancial corporations)
Household sector loan accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults
Men-owned loan accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 male adults
Women-owned loan accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 female adults
Borrowers at commercial banks per 1,000 adults
SME borrowers at commercial banks (percentage of nonfinancial corporations)
Household sector borrowers at commercial banks per 1,000 adults
Male borrowers from commercial banks per 1,000 male adults
Female borrowers from commercial banks per 1,000 female adults
Outstanding deposits with commercial banks (percentage of GDP)
Outstanding SME deposits with commercial banks (percentage of GDP)
Outstanding household sector deposits with commercial banks (percentage of GDP)
Outstanding loans with commercial banks (percentage of GDP)
Outstanding SME loans with commercial banks (percentage of GDP)
Outstanding loans to the household sector with commercial banks (percentage of GDP)
Credit Unions and Credit Cooperatives
Deposit accounts with credit unions and credit cooperatives per 1,000 adults
Depositors with credit unions and credit cooperatives per 1,000 adults
Loan accounts with credit unions and credit cooperatives per 1,000 adults
Borrowers at credit unions and credit cooperatives per 1,000 adults
Outstanding deposits with credit unions and credit cooperatives (percentage of GDP)
Outstanding loans with credit unions and credit cooperatives (percentage of GDP)
Microfinance Institutions
Borrowers at all microfinance institutions per 1,000 adults
Male borrowers from all microfinance institutions per 1,000 male adults
Female borrowers from all microfinance institutions per 1,000 female adults
Loan accounts with all microfinance institutions per 1,000 adults
Men-owned loan accounts with all microfinance institutions per 1,000 male adults
Women-owned loan accounts with all microfinance institutions per 1,000 female adults
Outstanding loans with all microfinance institutions (percentage of GDP)
Insurance
Life insurance policies per 1,000 adults
Branchless Banking
Credit cards per 1,000 adults
Debit cards per 1,000 adults
Number of mobile and internet banking transactions per 1,000 adults
Value of mobile and internet banking transactions (percentage of GDP)
Mobile Money
Registered mobile money accounts per 1,000 adults
Active mobile money accounts per 1,000 adults
Number of mobile money transactions per 1,000 adults
Outstanding mobile money balance on active accounts (percentage of GDP)
Value of mobile money transactions (percentage of GDP)
References
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The D4D Fund donor partners include China, European Union, Germany, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland, as of end 2019 (https://www.imf.org/en/Capacity-Development/D4D).
Financial inclusion can also be seen as part of a broader concept of financial development. See, for example, Čihák and others (2012) and Svirydzenka (2016).
The Group of Twenty (G20) endorsed 38 indicators as the G20 Financial Inclusion Indicators in 2012: these indicators measure usage (21), access (11), and quality of products and delivery of services (6). Indicators on quality of financial services include financial knowledge scores and a consumer protection index reflecting the existence of dispute resolution mechanisms.
Data from financial institutions are not only of higher frequency but also tend to be of higher quality compared to demand-side surveys.
GSMA does not release data at an individual country level.
Global Findex, first released in 2012 and updated triennially, covers 140 economies with data collected through sample surveys of roughly 1,000 people in each. The Enterprise Survey is based on a firm-level survey of topics including access to finance, covering close to 140 economies over different years.
Definitions and concepts used in the FAS are included in the IMF’s Financial Access Survey Guidelines and Manual. The document is available in three languages—English, Spanish, and French and can be accessed at http://data.IMF.org/FAS.
Both deposit-taking and non-deposit-taking microfinance institutions offer small-scale loans to self-employed or informally employed low-income individuals and microenterprises. The key difference between the two is how these loans are financed. As their names suggest, deposit-taking microfinance institutions finance their activities through deposits, while non-deposit-taking microfinance institutions use sources other than deposits (IMF 2016).
Indicators using ATMs and bank branches need to be interpreted with caution for some countries. For example, IMF (2019c) uses the FAS indicator of bank branches to show that San Marino is overbanked with the number of branches per 100,000 adults being the highest in Europe, which might suggest efficiency issues.
The initiative was launched in 2014.
In Figure 15, deposit-taking and non-deposit-taking microfinance institutions are shown separately. Countries do not necessarily report both types of microfinance institutions to the FAS.
Reports summarizing the issues discussed during the workshop can be found on the IMF FAS data portal.