Author: Luz del Carmen Díaz, researcher at FAIR Center of Business School of Tecnológico de Monterrey and professor at that same institution.
We have seen how in the last decade the efforts to have greater financial inclusion in Mexico have been evolutionary. The fact that more and more people, of different ages, gender and social level, have the same opportunities when requesting a loan or investment product has become fundamental for equality and equity. There is a lot of talk about financial inclusion, but what is it?
According to the World Bank (2022), financial inclusion refers to the access that people and companies have to various useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs and that are provided in a responsible and sustainable manner. Financial inclusion is considered to be an element that facilitates the achievement of 7 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
In Mexico, the federal government is in charge of the National Council for Financial Inclusion (CONAIF), which has the general objective of strengthening the financial health of the Mexican population, through increasing access and efficient use of the financial system, the development of economic-financial competencies, and user empowerment. This council manages the National Financial Inclusion Policy through a platform that is open and seeks to be an instrument of transparency and accountability to generate a dialogue between the different actors and civil society on inclusion strategies in the country ( https://www.pnif.mx/acerca).
Its main indicators and goals for 2024 are:
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CNBV, 2023.
Having access to a transaction account is the first step towards greater inclusion, as it allows people to store money, and send and receive payments. It also serves as an access route to other financial services.
In November of last year, the CNBV published the report “Annual Panorama of Financial Inclusion 2023”, with the aim of showing the situation of financial inclusion in Mexico at the end of 2022. Among the main findings are:
- In terms of financial infrastructure, after two consecutive years with decreases in the number of branches, Banco del Bienestar increased its coverage to almost 8%, placing it among the three financial institutions with the highest number of branches.
- On the other hand, regarding correspondents, ATMs and point-of-sale terminals (POS), increases of 4.6 and 12% were reported, respectively.
- The holding of deposit accounts increased by 6%, reaching close to 143.6 million contracts.
- Loans to individuals registered a growth of 13%, which corresponds to 65.7 million loans
- The accounts managed by the Afore increased by 3%, amounting to 72.5 million
- The amount of direct insurance premiums increased by 5%, amounting to 672.7 billion pesos.
- Transactions and transfers were recorded 6.9 billion (this is 4% from 2021 to 2022)
A notable fact, in terms of the gender gap, is the distribution by sex of hired personnel and personnel in management positions in the bank, from which it results that just over half of the personnel hired by the bank correspond to women, but only 28% were in senior management positions.
To improve financial inclusion in this new year, it is essential to have an efficient monitoring and evaluation framework that guarantees the successful implementation of strategies; These frameworks transform policy commitments into measurable objectives by establishing short- and medium-term goals. A good framework must have the following components:
1. A technological infrastructure that stores and reports data
2. An action plan for periodic monitoring and follow-up
3. The national results framework
4. Evaluations to measure the impact of financial inclusion actions/strategies
An important event for 2024 will be the National Financial Inclusion Survey (ENIF) prepared jointly by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), which will be of great relevance It will publish updated indicators at the national, regional and locality levels, which will allow diagnoses to be made, public policies to be designed and goals to be established regarding inclusion and financial education. This survey has been published since 2012, on a triannual basis.
Last but not least, I would like to highlight that each person, individually, can contribute to more effective inclusion, either by training with a course, supporting or informing if they know about the subject, or approaching a financial institution to learn more about the products and services offered. Financial inclusion is a key enabling element in reducing extreme poverty and promoting a country's economic prosperity.