Over 13-million South African adults have no bank accounts and a comprehensive survey of households suggested on Monday that this was "a vast opportunity to bank the unbanked".
The FinScope 2003 survey showed that most South Africans would want to put money in the bank if they had a large sum available, said FinMark Trust chief executive David Porteous. The fact that almost half the population is unbanked is
indicative of barriers to entry that arise from unemployment, irregular income and low personal income.
FinScope 2003 showed participation in the formal financial system as follows:
# 13,7-million adults currently banked;
# 3,7-million adults previously banked;
# 9,5-million adults never banked.
The challenge was "to understand behaviours and attitudes across the population towards financial services and other related products in order to design suitable financial products and delivery channels."
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