Deposit Assessment in South Asia
It is estimated that 2.7 billion people lack access to basic formal financial services, such as a savings account, with South Asia accounting for the largest share - 22 percent of all unbanked people.
IFC’s Access to Finance Advisory helps increase the availability and affordability of financial series, focusing particularly on micro, small, and medium enterprises. Our priorities are to build bank and nonbank financial institutions, develop financial infrastructure and improve the legal and regulatory framework. Microfinance is well established in South Asia, with numerous large, successful, and internationally known institutions in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. For a variety of reasons however, most institutions focus on microcredit, and the development of deposit services has lagged.
The South Asia Deposit Assessment studies, commissioned by IFC and conducted by MicroSave, aim to increase understanding of the demand and supply of savings products for the low- income client segment in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. A series of Deposit Assessment reports enables an analysis of the demand-supply gap in savings and provides broad recommendations on the design of products adapted to this client segment. It is hoped that the products developed as a result of this study will be adopted and piloted by banks, microfinance institutions, and insurance companies.
Full Reports in PDF:
- Deposit Assessment in Bangladesh
- Deposit Assessment in India
- Deposit Assessment in Nepal
- Deposit Assessment in Sri Lanka
