Insights on cross-border payments from the World Bank's 2025 Global Findex Report
World Bank's Global Findex Report 2025 Reveals Insights on Financial Inclusion and Digital Payments
The World Bank's latest Global Findex Report for 2025 offers a comprehensive snapshot of financial service usage in 141 economies, providing valuable insights for businesses and cross-border payments providers seeking to understand global financial trends.
The report, which is based on survey data covering over 140,000 people worldwide, highlights several key findings regarding account ownership, mobile money use, and digital payments.
Account Ownership Growth
Globally, 79% of adults now have a financial account (bank or mobile money), up from 74% in 2021. In low- and middle-income countries, 75% of adults have an account, reflecting a 6 percentage point increase since 2021. This expansion is driven by mobile phones and internet connectivity enabling greater access to formal financial services.
Mobile Money Use
Mobile phones are central to this surge in financial inclusion. About 10% of adults in developing economies use mobile-money accounts to save, a 5 percentage point rise from 2021. Mobile money is also significantly powering digital payments and savings in these markets.
Digital Payments and Financial Services
Digital financial services, including payments, savings, and remittances, have expanded considerably. However, some services like credit and insurance remain underutilized in developing countries.
Remaining Challenges
Despite progress, 1.3 billion adults remain unbanked, over half in eight large countries (Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan). The unbanked are often women, the poor, and those digitally disconnected, especially in rural or fragile settings. Gender gaps in account ownership persist but are narrowing, notably in 65 countries with an average gap over 13 percentage points.
Implications for Cross-Border Payments Providers
The large and growing financial account base tied to mobile technology means cross-border payment providers can leverage mobile money platforms to expand reach and inclusion. Providers should target populations still excluded, such as rural smallholder farmers, small businesses, and women, to capture next waves of account holders.
Digital payments infrastructure must be interoperable with mobile money systems prevalent in developing markets. Providers need to tailor solutions addressing the challenges of inactivity, gender gaps, and low service use beyond payments (e.g., credit, insurance). Growth is concentrated in fragile economies where account ownership rates are lower; specialized strategies here are critical.
The report is accessible for free by creating a new account and includes industry-leading newsletters on cross-border payments globally. For businesses interested in understanding consumer behavior in various economies, the World Bank's Global Findex Database for 2025 offers valuable insights. The report is particularly relevant for cross-border payments providers operating in developing markets.
Investing in cross-border payment providers could yield significant returns, given the escalating use of digital payments and mobile money in various economies, as revealed in the World Bank's Global Findex Report 2025. The expansion of digital financial services, including savings, remittances, and mobile money, presents opportunities for technology companies to collaborate with providers and tap into the personal-finance sector. In particular, data-and-cloud-computing technologies can play a crucial role in addressing remaining challenges such as inactivity, gender gaps, and low service utilization in developing economies. Meanwhile, business strategists may find the insights from the report instrumental in understanding the behavior of consumers across different economies and in making informed decisions about cross-border investments in the industry of digital payments and finance.
