35.5 percent of adults in the country are still outside financial services

 Ahmed Ferdous Khan

Banking, mobile financial services and microfinance have grown in the country, but many people still stay outside the formal financial system. About 35.5 percent of the adult population has not yet come under formal financial services. The gap in financial inclusion between women and men is also big. Sylhet is the most backward division. Banks and financial institutions have given a huge amount of loans to the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprise (CMSME) sector, but few women entrepreneurs have taken part. A report of Bangladesh Bank shows these facts.

People in the sector say the rate of financial inclusion has grown, but the benefit has not reached people of all classes and professions equally. They say women, small entrepreneurs and rural people need more access to bank loans and formal financial services. They say opening bank accounts or raising the number of mobile financial service accounts will not ensure real financial inclusion. These accounts must bring regular transactions, savings, investment and loans.

Big gap between women and men

According to Bangladesh Bank, the rate of financial inclusion among people aged 15 and above is 64.5 percent. This means about 35 of every 100 adults are still outside formal financial services. The report counts a person as included if the person has an account with at least one of these: a bank, a mobile financial service, a microfinance institution, an insurance company, a financial institution or the capital market.

The report shows a clear gap between women and men. The rate is 69.5 percent for men and 60.9 percent for women. This means women are 8.6 percentage points behind men. The gap exists in both cities and villages. In urban areas, the rate is 71.4 percent for men and 63.3 percent for women. In rural areas, it is 68.7 percent for men and 60 percent for women.

By division, Dhaka has the highest rate of financial inclusion at 67.7 percent. Chattogram has 67 percent. Sylhet has only 54.9 percent, which is 12.8 percentage points lower than Dhaka. The rate is 63.6 percent in rural areas and 66.8 percent in urban areas. So people in villages have less chance to reach financial services than people in cities.

Financial inclusion grows with education

The report also shows how education links to financial inclusion. Among people with no formal education, the rate is 55.1 percent. It is 68.5 percent for primary education, 66.1 percent for secondary, 64.7 percent for higher secondary and 89.6 percent for people with higher education.

By age, the rate is only 38 percent among people aged 15 to 24. It is 76.9 percent for ages 25 to 34 and the highest, 80.2 percent, for ages 35 to 44. The rate is 68.4 percent for ages 45 to 54 and 59.8 percent for ages 55 to 64. For people above 64, it is 54.7 percent.

Women hold more bank accounts but lag in loans

The number of bank accounts of women has grown, but their share in loans is still low. The report says women had about 5 crore 50 lakh bank deposit accounts in the fourth quarter of 2024. This rose to 6 crore 41 lakh in the fourth quarter of 2025. This is a growth of 16.5 percent in one year.

However, women hold only 18.6 percent of bank loan accounts. In the fourth quarter of 2025, women had about 25 lakh 10 thousand loan accounts in banks. A year earlier, the number was 21 lakh 90 thousand. Women take part much more in microfinance institutions. In the fourth quarter of 2025, women had about 3 crore 20 lakh loan accounts there. That is about 91 percent of all loan accounts. So microfinance institutions are still an important way for women to get formal loans. In financial institutions, women had only 19,273 loan accounts, or 14.6 percent of all loan accounts.

25 crore accounts in mobile banking

Mobile financial services keep growing in the country. By the end of December 2025, the number of mobile financial service accounts reached 25 crore 2 lakh 40 thousand. At the end of December 2024, it was 23 crore 86 lakh 76 thousand 153. So accounts grew by 4.84 percent in one year.

Women hold 10 crore 56 lakh 70 thousand accounts in this sector. Women’s accounts grew by 6.49 percent from the year before. In the same period, the number of MFS agents rose from 18 lakh 28 thousand 870 to 20 lakh 30 thousand 515.

Transactions also grew. In 2025, mobile financial services recorded 957 crore 70 lakh transactions. The number was 729 crore 10 lakh the year before. The value of transactions rose from Tk 17,38,300 crore in 2024 to Tk 21,83,100 crore in 2025. Merchant payments grew by 15.94 percent, and utility bill payments grew by 16.31 percent. However, government to person (G2P) transactions fell by 5.36 percent.

85 percent of agent banking outlets are in villages

Agent banking plays an important role in taking banking services to rural people. At the end of December 2025, the country had 20,501 agent banking outlets. Of these, 17,527 are in rural areas, which is 85.5 percent of all outlets. Urban areas have 2,974 outlets.

Agent banking has 2 crore 58 lakh 32 thousand 981 accounts in total. Of these, 2 crore 18 lakh 58 thousand 535 accounts are in rural areas. So rural people hold 84.6 percent of all accounts.

But not all banks take part equally in agent banking. Private commercial banks have the biggest agent banking network, with 11,238 agents and 16,190 outlets. Islamic banks have 3,939 agents and 4,161 outlets. State owned commercial banks have shrunk their agent banking work a lot. At the end of December 2024, these banks had 736 agents and 736 outlets each. At the end of December 2025, the number fell to 150.

Loans from banks and financial institutions grow

According to the report, banks and financial institutions disbursed Tk 33,84,746 crore in loans in 2025. The amount was Tk 26,54,286 crore in 2024. Loan disbursement grew by more than 27 percent in one year.

Private commercial banks gave the most loans, Tk 20,43,107 crore in 2025. Islamic banks gave Tk 7,29,495 crore. State owned commercial banks gave Tk 2,23,886 crore. In contrast, financial institutions gave fewer loans. Their loan disbursement was Tk 61,862 crore in 2024 and fell to Tk 55,489 crore in 2025. This is a fall of about 11 percent in one year.

58.9 percent of CMSME loans go to small entrepreneurs

The CMSME sector plays an important role in jobs and business growth. Banks and financial institutions disbursed Tk 7,01,710 crore to this sector up to December 2025. Of this, small entrepreneurs got Tk 4,13,520 crore, which is 58.9 percent of the total. Medium entrepreneurs got Tk 1,73,210 crore, or 24.7 percent. Micro enterprises got Tk 95,350 crore, or 13.6 percent. The cottage and informal sectors got 1.2 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

However, the picture of loans for women entrepreneurs is worrying. In 2025, women entrepreneurs in the CMSME sector received Tk 52,840 crore in loans. This is only 7.5 percent of all loans given. By sector, women entrepreneurs got Tk 21,900 crore in manufacturing, Tk 16,230 crore in trade and Tk 14,710 crore in services. Compared with the year before, loans to women in manufacturing grew by 39.6 percent. But loans to women in services fell by 15.31 percent.

Microfinance accounts grow but loan amount falls

The number of microfinance institutions fell from 703 in 2024 to 677 in 2025. But the number of branches rose from 26,806 to 27,720. The total number of accounts in this sector grew from 4 crore 26 lakh 49 thousand 806 to 4 crore 59 lakh 20 thousand 968. This is a growth of 7.67 percent in one year.

Even so, the outstanding loan amount fell. In 2024, the outstanding loans of microfinance institutions were Tk 16,45,236 crore. In 2025, they fell to Tk 16,25,407 crore. This is a fall of 1.21 percent in one year. In contrast, deposits or savings rose slightly.

Limited role in capital market and insurance

The capital market also shows limited participation. At the end of December 2025, the country had 12 lakh 58 thousand 542 BO accounts in the capital market. This is a growth of only 0.89 percent from the year before. Women hold 24 percent of these accounts. BO accounts run through a mobile app make up 3 percent.

The insurance sector has 1 crore 92 lakh policies in total. Of these, life insurance has 1 crore 51 lakh 39 thousand 459 policies, which is 79 percent of the total. There are 31 lakh 97 thousand 294 micro insurance policies and 8 lakh 90 thousand 141 non life insurance policies. But digital services in insurance are still limited. The report shows 85,614 people use internet insurance services. Only 18,427 people have paid premiums through mobile financial services.

Gaps in financial literacy

Beyond bringing people under financial services, raising their knowledge and awareness is also a big challenge. A survey of Bangladesh Bank shows that 78.4 percent of people use mobile phones, but only 30 percent use mobile internet. In rural areas, 33 percent of men and 20 percent of women use mobile internet. In urban areas, the rates are 46 percent and 34 percent.

Women and men also differ in financial literacy. The survey found that 77 percent of men and 69 percent of women can correctly tell the difference between interest and principal. Only 41 percent of men and 30 percent of women understand the idea of spreading investment risk across different sectors.

There are also reasons why people avoid financial services. Among people who do not use payment services, 41 percent say they see no need. Another 18 percent lack the needed papers, and 15 percent lack enough information. Among people who do not use deposit services, 32 percent see no need, 22 percent say the cost is high, and 12 percent lack enough information. Among people who do not use loan services, 46 percent see no need, 18 percent cite high cost, and 15 percent cite a lack of needed papers. For insurance services, 56 percent say they lack money, and 36 percent say they do not trust the service provider.

76 percent of financial inclusion strategy carried out

The country has made some progress in carrying out the National Financial Inclusion Strategy. The report says the strategy set 69 targets in total. Up to December 2025, 53 of them were fully carried out, which is 76 percent of all targets. The other 16 targets were partly carried out. But more work is needed on financial literacy, consumer protection, financial inclusion of women, financial services for people hurt by climate change, and the use of new technology.

Financial service structures and the number of accounts have grown in Bangladesh. Still, big gaps remain in real use of services, access to loans, the role of women entrepreneurs and the financial strength of rural people. The big challenge now is not only to open new accounts. It is to ensure regular savings, loans, investment, insurance and other financial services through these accounts.

Dr. Mustafa K Mujeri, former Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and former chief economist of Bangladesh Bank, said it is urgent to reduce collateral, paperwork and banking hassles for women entrepreneurs. He said effective steps must also spread banking services in backward regions, raise financial literacy and build people’s trust in digital transactions. In his words, if this does not happen, then even as financial services expand, the role of left behind people in the main stream of the economy will not grow as expected.