{"id":140034,"date":"2025-05-16T07:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T04:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/yleinen\/over-60-per-cent-of-the-arab-world-still-outside-the-banking-system\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T07:30:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T04:30:44","slug":"over-60-per-cent-of-the-arab-world-still-outside-the-banking-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/yleinen\/over-60-per-cent-of-the-arab-world-still-outside-the-banking-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 60 per cent of the Arab world still outside the banking system"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <p>You are unauthorized to view this page.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-login-form-wrap\">\n            \n<div class=\"mp_wrapper mp_login_form\">\n                  <!-- mp-login-form-start -->     <form name=\"mepr_loginform\" id=\"mepr_loginform\" class=\"mepr-form\" action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/login-2\/\" method=\"post\">\n            <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_username\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n                              <label for=\"user_login\">Username<\/label>\n        <\/div>\n        <input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" value=\"\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_password\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n          <label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n          <div class=\"mp-hide-pw\">\n            <input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" value=\"\" \/>\n            <button type=\"button\" class=\"button mp-hide-pw hide-if-no-js\" data-toggle=\"0\" aria-label=\"Show password\">\n              <span class=\"dashicons dashicons-visibility\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n            <\/button>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n            <div>\n        <label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n      <div class=\"submit\">\n        <input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button-primary mepr-share-button \" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140034\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_process_login_form\" value=\"true\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_is_login_page\" value=\"false\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/form>\n    <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n    <div class=\"mepr-login-actions\">\n        <a\n          href=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/login-2\/?action=forgot_password\"\n          title=\"Click here to reset your password\"\n        >\n          Forgot Password        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n      \n    <!-- mp-login-form-end --> \n  <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart_content_wrapper\">\nBetween 2016 and 2024, the number of Egyptians with a bank account \u2013 which experts say is essential for financial inclusion &#8211; tripled, from 17.1 million to over 51 million. Even more impressively, the number of Egyptian women with an account increased by 260 per cent, though gender gaps do remain. But how you widen financial inclusion overall is a question the Arab region is currently grappling with. A new report from the UN Economic and Social Commission in Western Asia (UNESCWA) published on Thursday highlights the challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 64 per cent of adults in the 22 countries in the Arab region are still without an account \u2013 or \u201cunbanked\u201d \u2013 a higher number than all other regions of the world and significantly higher than the 24 per cent global average. The report warns that this level of financial exclusion will negatively impact economic opportunities and the region\u2019s ability to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. \u201cThe Arab region cannot afford to treat financial services as a luxury. Without inclusive finance, we cannot hope to lift people out of poverty, support small businesses, or achieve equitable growth,\u201d said ESCWA\u2019s Mario Jales, lead author of the report.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018The digital divide within the divide\u2019<\/em><br \/>\nThe report finds that women and disabled people have even less access to financial services \u2013 only 29 per cent of women and 21 per cent of disabled people in the region have an account. Similarly, rural communities and younger and older people also experience lower rates of inclusion in the banking system. The report also highlighted that access to loans for small and medium-sized businesses is worryingly low, reducing entrepreneurial and other income-producing activities. In addition to gender disparities, there are variations within the Arab region \u2013 81 per cent of people in low-income countries do not have access to an account in comparison to 67 per cent in middle-income countries and 23 per cent in the high-income bracket.<\/p>\n<p>Given that regional rates of financial inclusion remain so low, how do countries work to improve them? The basis of Egypt\u2019s success was the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to promote financial inclusion, a strategy which actively worked to target underserved communities, ESCWA points out. For example, in Egypt, 22 per cent of ATMs in the country have now been equipped with accessibility features including brighter lighting and Braille keyboards. Other countries in the region have also implemented national strategies which include targeted initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan, which has the second widest gender gap in the region, implemented a Microfund for Women to provide loans for income-generating activities. There are now 60 branches across the country, serving 133,000 borrowers, 95 per cent of whom are women. Moreover, some banks in the region have worked to implement financial literacy classes and others have worked to tailor their services to underserved communities including by lowering minimum deposits. The report concludes that an expansion of all these activities \u2013 national policymaking which targets underserved communities and private bank activities which lower barriers to entry and support financial literacy \u2013 will be essential in improving financial inclusion. \u201cThe path forward exists, but it requires political will, targeted investment and a whole-of-society approach,\u201d the report concludes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2025\/05\/1163291\">The UN<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/csr-news-en\/over-60-per-cent-of-the-arab-world-still-outside-the-banking-system\/\">Over 60 per cent of the Arab world still outside the banking system<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\">Vastuullisuusuutiset.fi<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1],"tags":[18810,555,2961,18811,655],"class_list":["post-140034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-yleinen","tag-arab-world-still","tag-csr-news-en","tag-outside","tag-the-banking-system","tag-yleinen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}