Page 166 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 1

STS 422 Zarina A.R

State of financial inclusion in Malaysia
Zarina Abd Rahman
Development Finance and Inclusion Department
Bank Negara Malaysia

Abstract
Financial inclusion has improved significantly in Malaysia as a result of various
initiatives to increase the access, take-up and quality of financial products and
services. These improvements were largely driven by increased accessibility to
financial access points across the country, more responsible usage of products
and higher levels of satisfaction among financial consumers. A significant
innovation in the Malaysian market is the development of agent banking,
which has profoundly altered the access channels for financial services. At its
core, agent banking enables consumers to obtain formal banking services by
financial institutions through third party agents. While the progress in financial
inclusion has been pronounced, it continues to be a strong policy priority, with
more efforts planned ahead to improve outreach to address the last mile
challenges. This includes, among others, greater usage of electronic payments,
digital technology and cost effective solutions that are better able to
transcend the unique boundaries facing this last segment. With further
progress, it is expected that the unbanked population will be further reduced
to 5% by 2020.

Keywords
Financial Inclusion; Measurement; Malaysia

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of any particular individual or entity. This document is created solely for the
use of the participants of this programme.

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