Opening a bank account or gaining access to a digital payment service can be an important step toward financial inclusion.
An account can make it easier to receive wages, transfer money, pay bills, and store funds without relying entirely on cash. Digital services can also reduce some of the practical barriers associated with visiting a physical financial institution.
Yet access to financial services does not necessarily mean that a person has enough savings to manage an emergency, can afford the costs of using those services, or is protected from financial loss.
The distinction matters because financial inclusion and financial security describe different conditions.
One concerns access to financial tools. The other concerns a person’s ability to manage financial needs and withstand unexpected difficulties.
The World Bank’s Global Findex Database 2025, based on surveys conducted in 2024 across 141 economies, provides an important foundation for examining these differences.
More People Have Financial Accounts
Financial account ownership has expanded considerably over time.
According to the World Bank, 79% of adults worldwide had an account at a bank, another financial institution, or through a mobile money provider in 2024, compared with 74% in 2021.
This expansion reflects progress in connecting people to formal financial services.
For individuals who previously depended entirely on cash, an account can provide additional ways to receive income, make payments, and manage transactions.
Mobile money services have also widened access in markets where traditional banking infrastructure may be limited.
These developments are important.
However, account ownership measures whether a person has access to an account. It does not establish how frequently that account is used, how much money it contains, or whether its owner can cope with an unexpected financial problem.
A person can have an account without having meaningful savings.
Another person may use an account regularly while still struggling to meet everyday expenses.
The number of account holders therefore tells only part of the story.
Having an Account Is Different From Using One
Financial services become useful through the activities they enable.
An account may be used to receive wages, government payments, or remittances. It may also support purchases, bill payments, transfers, and savings.
But these activities are not interchangeable.
Someone who receives a payment and immediately withdraws the full amount may be using an account without accumulating savings.
Another person may make frequent digital payments while having little money available after essential expenses.
The World Bank’s Global Findex distinguishes account ownership from different forms of financial activity, including payments, saving, and borrowing.
This distinction is important when evaluating progress.
An increase in account ownership does not automatically establish an equivalent increase in savings or financial resilience.
Similarly, growth in digital transactions does not necessarily show that households are becoming financially more secure.
Financial activity can increase even when people remain exposed to income interruptions, rising expenses, or unexpected costs.
The Difference Between Saving Money and Having Emergency Savings
Saving is another important dimension of financial well-being.
The World Bank reports that 40% of adults in developing economies saved money in a financial account in 2024.
This indicates meaningful participation in formal saving services.
However, the figure refers to a different population from the worldwide account ownership rate. The two percentages should not be directly subtracted or interpreted as measuring the same group of people.
There is also a distinction between having saved money and having sufficient emergency reserves.
A person may save a small amount during the year but later use it for ordinary household expenses.
Another may have savings that are committed to education, housing, business operations, or other obligations.
Savings may also be difficult to access immediately, depending on where and how the money is held.
Consequently, evidence that someone has saved money does not necessarily establish that sufficient funds remain available for an unexpected expense.
Emergency preparedness requires a separate assessment.
The relevant question is not simply whether someone has saved, but whether financial resources can be accessed when they are needed.
Financial Resilience Is a Different Measure
Unexpected financial pressures can arise from many sources.
A household may face a medical expense, a temporary interruption in income, urgent repairs, or another unforeseen obligation.
The ability to respond depends on more than access to a financial account.
It may depend on available savings, income stability, existing debt, support from family or other networks, and access to affordable financial assistance.
The Global Findex includes measures of financial resilience, such as how difficult people expect it would be to obtain additional money within a defined period.
It also examines the ability to cover living expenses following a loss of income.
These indicators address different questions from account ownership.
They help distinguish access to financial infrastructure from the capacity to manage financial disruption.
Even these measures require careful interpretation.
A person’s reported ability to obtain emergency funds does not necessarily mean those funds are held in a bank account.
Money may come from savings, family members, friends, employment, or borrowing.
Likewise, the ability to obtain money does not automatically mean that doing so would be inexpensive or free of future financial consequences.
Financial resilience therefore cannot be reduced to a single account ownership indicator.
Financial Services Also Have Costs
Access to a financial service does not always mean that using it is affordable.
Depending on the provider and the country, financial services may involve account fees, transaction charges, withdrawal costs, minimum balance requirements, or other expenses.
Digital services may also require access to a mobile phone, a functioning network, and sufficient funds for connectivity.
For some users, reaching a cash withdrawal point or financial service provider may involve additional travel and time.
These costs can influence how frequently people use their accounts and which services they choose.
A payment service may be convenient for one household but relatively expensive for another.
The importance of these expenses depends on local prices, the structure of financial services, household income, and available alternatives.
There is no single global cost that accurately represents the burden of financial services for every user.
This is another reason to distinguish formal access from practical affordability.
A service may be available without being equally useful or economical for everyone.
Digital Payments Create Opportunities and Responsibilities
Digital financial services have changed how people interact with money.
Mobile payments can support transactions without requiring customers and businesses to exchange physical cash.
Digital accounts may also make it easier to receive transfers and maintain records of financial activity.
According to the World Bank, 42% of adults in low- and middle-income economies made digital merchant payments in 2024, compared with 35% in 2021.
This illustrates the growing role of digital payments in everyday commerce.
However, the ability to make a digital payment is not the same as having sufficient savings or protection against financial shocks.
Digital financial activity also introduces questions about security, consumer awareness, and the responsibilities of service providers.
Users may need to protect devices, account credentials, and personal information.
Financial institutions and payment providers must also manage security risks within their systems.
These responsibilities extend beyond the initial act of opening an account.
Financial Access Does Not Guarantee Digital Safety
The security of financial services is an important part of their practical value.
A person may have access to a digital account while facing risks associated with stolen devices, compromised credentials, deceptive messages, or fraudulent transactions.
The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 also examines digital connectivity and certain security-related behaviours.
For example, its findings indicate that only around half of mobile phone owners in developing economies protect their phones with a password.
This measure provides insight into one aspect of device security.
It does not, however, measure the overall safety of financial accounts or establish how many users have experienced fraud.
A password is only one component of digital protection.
Other relevant factors include secure authentication, fraud prevention, accessible customer support, effective dispute resolution, and the ability to recover from unauthorized activity.
These protections can influence whether financial services are trustworthy and practical for users.
Greater digital access can create opportunities, but its benefits also depend on how securely and reliably services operate.
Why Financial Inclusion and Financial Security Should Be Measured Separately
Financial inclusion is often assessed through access to accounts and financial services.
These indicators are valuable because they reveal whether people can participate in systems that may otherwise be difficult to reach.
Financial security requires a broader perspective.
It involves the ability to meet ordinary financial obligations, manage unexpected expenses, maintain access to resources, and avoid severe disruption when circumstances change.
An individual may be financially included but financially vulnerable.
Another may have limited formal financial access while relying on informal savings or support networks to manage emergencies.
Neither situation can be understood from account ownership alone.
The distinction also matters when interpreting international data.
The Global Findex 2025 covers 141 economies, but not every financial-use or financial-health question was asked in every economy.
In particular, several detailed questions concerning financial use and financial health were collected in low- and middle-income economies rather than across the entire global survey.
Comparisons therefore need to respect differences in population coverage, survey questions, and definitions.
The presence of a large international dataset does not make every indicator universally comparable.
What Account Ownership Can and Cannot Tell Us
Account ownership remains an important measure of progress.
It helps show whether financial infrastructure is reaching more people and whether formal channels for payments and money management are becoming more widely available.
But it cannot independently establish whether people have enough income, adequate emergency reserves, affordable services, or effective protection against financial risks.
Those conditions require additional evidence.
A complete picture of financial well-being must consider how financial services are used, what resources people can draw upon, and the pressures they face in everyday life.
This does not diminish the importance of financial inclusion.
Instead, it places account ownership within a wider understanding of economic security.
The expansion of financial services can create opportunities.
Whether those opportunities translate into greater financial resilience depends on circumstances that extend beyond access alone.
Beyond Access to Financial Security
Financial accounts can make everyday transactions easier and provide useful channels for saving and managing money.
They are an important part of modern financial infrastructure.
Yet opening an account does not automatically increase the amount of money a person can save, eliminate financial uncertainty, or guarantee protection from unexpected losses.
Understanding financial security requires looking beyond the number of people connected to financial services.
It requires attention to the resources available to households, the affordability and safety of financial tools, and their capacity to respond when financial circumstances change.
Having access to money management tools is not the same as having the financial resources and resilience to withstand uncertainty.
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Sources and References
- World Bank. Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex/report
- World Bank. The Little Data Book on Financial Inclusion 2025. https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/be6615202d1f08a25855c8ac2d615122-0050012025/related/Little-Data-Book-2025-Web.pdf
- World Bank. Global Findex 2025 Methodology. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex/methodology
- World Bank. Mobile-Phone Technology Powers Saving Surge in Developing Economies. 16 July 2025. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2025/07/16/mobile-phone-technology-powers-saving-surge-in-developing-economies