survey approximately 18 months after the first participants were enrolled in the study and received an account. The endline survey was completed by 2,376 of the 3,136 respondents of the baseline survey.<sup>29</sup> Of the participants in this sample, 1,109 completed the full panel of baseline, follow-up, and endline surveys.<sup>30</sup> Table 1 reports summary statistics for our sample, using data from the baseline survey. The average respondent in our sample is female, has been employed at the firm for three years, and earns a monthly base salary of BDT 6,779 (US$80). On average, workers in our sample have completed only elementary school, 57% are not literate, and many workers in our sample also struggle with numeracy, as reflected in comparatively low average scores on a digit span test. While most respondents in our sample state that they plan to save, many are unable to meet their savings goals: 22% of our respondents would not be able to save BDT 5,000 for emergency expenses, 47% needed to borrow at the end of the month, and 65% report having difficulty sticking to financial plans.

Workers in our sample have very little experience using formal financial services and low trust in formal accounts. While a high share of workers stated that they planned to save, only 25% report had savings in any formal account at baseline. The median worker sends monthly remittances worth approximately 22% of her monthly base salary, indicating high demand for remittance services. While seventy-five percent had used a mobile payments platform to send money, very few used their own account – less than 1% had a balance in a mobile account. The use of informal financial services, on the other hand, is widespread: 33% of workers had informal savings, such as keeping cash at home or with local savings groups, while approximately half of all participants had informal loans outstanding, typically at extremely high interest rates.

The baseline summary statistics also reveal extremely low trust in formal accounts. We asked respondents “ _would you be comfortable leaving BDT 1,000 in a [bank or mobile] account for 30 days?_ ”. Answers were given on a 10-point scale. Averaging across bank and mobile responses, the mean report is 3.7. Panel (a) of Figure 1 splits the sample into groups who report _>_ 5 versus _<_ = 5 on the trust question, averaged over account type. 73% of respondents fall into the low average trust category.<sup>31</sup> Figure 1, panel (b) shows that trust in formal accounts is even lower among respondents that have never used a bank or mobile account.<sup>32</sup> Figure 2 reports summary

> 29At one study location, the first follow-up survey was conducted before treatment assignments had been revealed. In that location, we restrict our sample to individuals still working in the factory at the time of that follow-up.

> 30In some of the follow-up rounds, we did not have the permission of the factories to survey the full set of participants. In these “thin” rounds, we randomized which workers were contacted. This explains why the set of workers with a full panel is much smaller than the set of workers who completed an endline survey.

> 31Focus group discussions suggest that workers are worried about being overcharged by financial agents in regular transactions as well as the lower probability event that an agent fraudulently uses personal account information to make withdrawals.

> 32This masks differences in trust between types of accounts. Trust in bank accounts is generally higher than trust in mobile accounts. This may be due to customers not thinking of mobile accounts as a savings device, or customers being less inclined to trust commissions-motivated mobile money agents through which they access the account.

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