The Dominican Republic ranked 20th of 26 countries in the 2017 Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report: Building a Secure and Inclusive Global Financial Ecosystem. The report was released by the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
The FDIP evaluates commitment to and progress toward financial inclusion across a set of 26 geographically, politically, and economically diverse countries, including the Dominican Republic.
“Countries have increasingly recognized that advancing access to and usage of affordable, secure formal financial services can contribute to their development objectives,” write FDIP authors Robin Lewis, John Villasenor, and Darrell West. However, further opportunities for progress remain.
As part of its aim to provide policymakers and others with information that can help improve financial inclusion efforts, the FDIP team produces an annual report and scorecard that measure countries on four “dimensions” of financial inclusion: country commitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment, and the adoption of traditional and digital financial services.
On the 2017 scorecard, the Dominican Republic received 64% of the total possible points across all four dimensions, meaning it ranked 20th out of 26 countries on overall score.
Other interesting findings pertaining to the country include:
The Dominican Republic’s overall score increased by two percentage points over last year, when it received 62% of the total possible points, and its rank remained the same (20th).
The Dominican Republic received its highest score (78%) in the mobile capacity category.
The creation of subagents and mobile banking facilities by institutions like Banco Popular Dominicano has expanded the number of people who have access to financial products.
Instituting a national financial inclusion strategy and developing a comprehensive electronic money regulatory framework would further the Dominican Republic’s financial inclusion efforts.
Countries included in Latin America were: Mexico (79%), Brazil (79%), Colombia (78%), Chile (74%), Peru (72%), El Salvador (69%), Dominican Republic (64%), and Haiti (60%).
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Brookings
4 September 2017
