With support from MetLife Foundation, Women’s World Banking has partnered with Dutch-Bangla Bank (DBBL) to increase the usage of mobile financial services by low-income women in Bangladesh.
As the pace of innovation in the financial services industry grows, women are in danger of falling further behind in accessing and using mobile financial services. According to the Global Findex,1.1 billion, or about two-thirds of all unbanked adults have a mobile phone.
Despite this, there is a consistent gender gap of 9 percent in the developing world, with women 10 percent less likely to own a mobile phone and 6 percent less likely to own a phone and have access to the internet. Bangladesh’s gender gap in financial access grew 20 percentage points from 2014 to 2017 and at 29 percentage points, it is now one of the largest gender gaps in the world.
DBBL’s mobile financial service- Rocket, provides women with a safe and convenient way to use mobile financial services. Through its promotion of wallet usage, women now have access to a safe place to keep their money and transact. Women’s World Banking will implement behavioral research and women-centered design to better understand the barriers that women face in using financial services in Bangladesh—with a focus on digital and mobile services—and ultimately pilot programs to increase usage of DBBL Rocket by low-income women. The lessons will be used as a model to foster the expansion of women’s usage of mobile financial services around the world.
