Connected but Not Secure: What Global Findex Reveals About the Future of Finance

1. Introduction

The Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy is the world’s most comprehensive source of data on how people access and use financial services in the digital era. Based on surveys of 145,000 adults across 141 economies, it captures the intersection of mobile connectivity, financial account ownership, digital payments, savings, borrowing, and financial health.

This edition shows how digital technology, particularly mobile phones and mobile money, has transformed financial inclusion over the past decade. More people than ever before hold accounts, make digital payments, and save formally. Yet the report also highlights persistent gaps: billions remain unbanked, women and poorer households face structural barriers, and improvements in financial resilience have stalled.

In essence, the 2025 findings present a double story: remarkable progress in digital and financial access, but limited gains in household security and resilience. The data underscores both the power of digital tools to democratize finance and the need for policies that ensure this access translates into stability, trust, and long-term wellbeing.

2. Digital Connectivity as a Gatekeeper

• Phone ownership (86% globally, 84% in LMICs) is near-universal, but access is not equal. Smartphones are still limited in South Asia, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where basic phones remain important.
• Income gaps > gender gaps: being poor is a stronger barrier than being female. This suggests that policies or private-sector initiatives focusing purely on gender may miss the bigger structural driver — affordability.
• Digital safety is weak: 40% of phone owners lack passwords, and scams are common. This signals that connectivity without financial/digital literacy can actually increase vulnerability.

Implication: Expanding connectivity is necessary but insufficient. Real progress depends on affordability (cheap smartphones, data), trust-building (security features), and digital skills.

3. Financial Access – The Rise of Mobile Money

• Account ownership (79% globally) has reached new highs, with mobile money driving inclusion in low- and middle-income economies.
• Sub-Saharan Africa & LAC are success stories: 40% and 37% of adults, respectively, use mobile money. This leapfrogs traditional banking models.
• But 1.3 billion remain unbanked. Among them, ~31% in LMICs lack phones entirely — showing a double-exclusion trap (no account, no digital channel).

Implication: Mobile money is no longer just an African phenomenon. It’s a proven pathway to mass inclusion in other regions, but reaching the “last billion” will require non-digital, subsidized, or hybrid models.

4. Financial Use – Digital First, Credit Last

• Digital payments are mainstream: 61% of adults in LMICs used them in 2024, making them the most widely adopted financial service. Merchant payments are growing fastest, doubling in countries like Paraguay, Kenya, and Viet Nam.
• Formal saving surged: 40% now save formally, with mobile money enabling frequent, small deposits. This flips the old narrative that poor households cannot save.
• Formal borrowing lags: only ~25% use credit from formal providers, while 35% rely on friends/family. Informality dominates in small business borrowing.

Implication: The “use” frontier has shifted from cash → payments → savings, but borrowing remains stuck. Unlocking formal, responsible credit requires cash-flow based lending (using digital transaction histories).

5. Financial Health – The Stubborn Gap

• Resilience hasn’t improved: only 56% could raise emergency funds, same as 2021. Half of LMIC adults cannot cover more than a month of expenses.
• Worries are concentrated on everyday survival: bills, health, school fees.
• Natural disasters intensify risks: a quarter of LMIC adults faced one in the last 3 years, with two-thirds losing income or assets.

Implication: Inclusion ≠ resilience. More accounts and payments haven’t yet translated into safety nets. Linking accounts to insurance, emergency credit, and social transfers is critical.

6. Big Picture: Progress & Paradox

• Progress: Connectivity + mobile money have driven historic gains in access and usage. Inclusion is no longer the bottleneck for much of the world.
• Paradox: Financial health has stagnated. Households are better connected but remain fragile.
• Policy risk: Without protection and consumer literacy, digital inclusion could expose people to fraud, predatory lending, and shocks.

Strategic Outlook

• The next wave of inclusion is about quality, not quantity:
  • From accounts → resilience (emergency funds, insurance).
  • From digital payments → creditworthiness (digital histories for lending).
  • From connectivity → trust (security, literacy, consumer protection).
• Expect SSA’s mobile-first model to expand globally, especially in LAC and South Asia.
• Governments’ role will be decisive: linking IDs, SIMs, G2P payments, and regulation of fees/scams.