A recent analysis performed by Paysend, a company that allows money transfers to any Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay cards and to regular bank accounts, has revealed the world’s top ten nations with the greatest gender divide for accessing modern financial services such as banking accounts and mobile money accounts.
Paysend examined the latest data from the World Bank in order to make comparisons between the percentage of men and women who have access to a bank or mobile-based account.
The results of the analysis indicate that Jordan has the biggest gender divide between men who have a bank or mobile account compared to women at 29.7%.
Bangladesh and Turkey were also quite unequal with a 28.8% and 28.7% difference (respectively) between men and women who had a bank or mobile account. Benin was also ranked in the top 10 countries when it comes to significant differences between men and women bank account holders (with a 20% difference).
Alberto Macciani, CMO at Paysend, stated:
“New technology is helping to bring us closer to greater financial inclusion for women, but many still struggle to access the financial services they need.”
He added:
“Global money transfers are now bigger than foreign direct investment for developing economies. Expanding financial inclusion for women is vital so they can access this important source of funds. Research shows when women are in control of the finances they invest in the health, nutrition, and education of their family.”
World Bank’s data reveals that although more women now have access to bank accounts when compared to 2011, they are still behind men.
In 2011, only 37% of women had access to modern financial services in low- and middle-income nations, meanwhile, 46.6% of men had access to a bank account at that time.
According to 2017 data, the gender divide stands at about 9%. Around 67.5% of men have access to modern banking services, while only 58.6% of women have access to similar services (worldwide).
The World Bank data indicates that there are significant discrepancies between different areas when it comes to individuals who have access to bank accounts and those who don’t.
For example, 225 million Chinese citizens aged 15 or over don’t have access to a bank account. Meanwhile in neighboring India, approximately 191 million people don’t have access to bank accounts. Around 4.3 million people residing in Poland and 14.2 million individuals in Ukraine don’t have bank accounts.
Introduced only two years ago, Paysend offers a card-to-card funds transfer service. Called Global Transfers, the company’s money transfer platform services more than one million users in over 70 countries. Paysend says its service is fast, reliable, and cheap to use.
Macciani noted:
“Moving money changes lives. This is why it’s so important that we do all we can to increase financial inclusion for everyone worldwide. Paysend has made what was once a laborious, slow and expensive process to pay, hold and spend money across borders now simple, quick and low cost. The business will launch new services soon to make paying, holding and sending money globally even easier and cheaper.”