Slow progress towards digital money

A new report by from Citi and Imperial College London suggests that the world as a whole is making slow and uneven progress towards digital money, with many countries still struggling to bring their unbanked and under banked into the digital fold.

“Index leaders and laggards alike are struggling to bring the ‘unbanked’ (without any type of account) and ‘under banked’ (with an account of some sort but also using alternative financial services, such as payday loans or check cashing) into the digital fold. Two billion people worldwide do not have any kind of a bank account, although this figure has been on the decline.”

The report found that there has only been a 2% shift towards digital ‘readiness’ since 2014, while the gap between the countries at the top and bottom of the index continues to widen.

The full report can be viewed here.