# How account holders use their accounts

While 2 billion adults are unbanked, 3.2 billion do have an account. But how many of those with an account are actually using it? And how many are doing so in ways that allow them to fully benefit from financial inclusion? This section documents how people use their accounts—and how intensely—by constructing an indicator based on Global Findex data.

To assess how intensely accounts are used, four levels of use are defined:

- _High use:_ account at a financial institution used for three or more monthly withdrawals, debit card used to make a direct payment in the past 12 months,<sup>5</sup> account used to pay utility bills or school fees or to send remittances in the past 12 months, or account at a financial institution used for saving in the past 12 months

- _Medium use:_ account used to receive wages, government transfers, payments for the sale of agricultural products, or remittances in the past 12 months

- _Low use:_ account at a financial institution used for one or two monthly deposits or withdrawals or mobile money account used in the past 12 months

- _Dormant:_ account at a financial institution with zero deposits or withdrawals in the past 12 months

This categorization differentiates between making a payment and receiving a payment. When people receive a payment, the choice about how they receive that payment—whether into an account, in cash, or, in the case of remittances, through an over-the-counter transaction—is often determined by the sender—the employer, the government, the remittance sender. But when people make a payment, they can often choose how to do so—again, whether through their account, in cash, or, in the case of remittances, through an over-the-counter transaction—though their choice may be limited if, for example, a utility provider or school accepts payments only in cash. For this reason, an account used to make a payment in the past 12 months is put in the high-use category while an account used only to receive a payment is put in the medium-use category.

An account is also assigned to the high-use category if it is actively used either for saving or for cash management purposes as proxied by three or more monthly withdrawals or the use of a debit card to directly make payments. By definition, mobile money accounts in the Global Findex database are never dormant.<sup>6</sup>

## How does the intensity of account use vary across regions?

Not surprisingly, the share of account holders with a high-use account is largest in highincome OECD economies, at 91 percent (or 85 percent of all adults) (figure 4.4). About three-quarters of those with a high-use account reported having made three or more monthly withdrawals, a similar share reported having used a debit card to directly make a purchase in the past 12 months, and yet again a similar share reported having made a utility payment from their account in the past 12 months. About 60 percent reported having used their account to save in the past 12 months.

The intensity of account use differs markedly across developing regions. In East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa about 65 percent of

> THE GLOBAL FINDEX DATABASE 62