What does financial inclusion mean for emerging markets?
You’d think that in 2018, a bank account would be a must, right?
In the height of the digital age, it’s surprising to discover that many individuals around the world still do not have access to very basic services such as banking.
The world’s unbanked
According to the McKinsey, over 2 billion people still do not have access to the most basic financial aids — be it savings or loans. Moreover, in Southeast Asia, only 27% of its 600 million population have bank accounts. These extreme figures contribute to the poverty and extreme distinctions among economic classes within a country.
The need to widen the reach of financial access is essential as it could greatly improve its population’s standards of living and increase ASEAN’s economic contribution from USD 7 billion to USD 52 billion by 2030.
A win-win situation, right? However, some of the biggest hurdles to financial inclusion is, surprisingly, the traditional banking systems. Financial institutions, supposedly placed to promote financial access, actually present barriers that may be difficult for individuals to overcome — such as proximity, lack of financial literacy, high interest rates, etc. — making it hard to get a loan or even make a basic bank account. Though this may be the case now, by creating ways to bring financial inclusion to the unbanked, a whole new gateway of opportunities will arise to upgrade their quality of life.
Mobile penetration
As the traditional banking system may not be the way paving towards financial inclusion, reaching out in ways that are familiar to emerging market users may just be the key.
Though the most of Southeast Asia are unbanked, they do have high mobile penetration rates. In fact, studies show that 95–98% of the population in emerging markets are on their phones and on prepaid mobile airtime. There is also the continuous expansion of technological infrastructures which result in the growth of their digital users’ activities in two aspects: internet penetration (58%) and mobile connectivity (141%).
So imagine if we were to digitize currencies wherein users are given the option to remit and receive money, access digital goods, and even buy cryptocurrencies through their mobile phones and connectivity — the possibilities are endless and financial inclusion doesn’t seem that impossible, yes?
Here at XONIO, we are working on financial inclusivity, enabling access to products and services to those at the bottom of the pyramid. This segment in emerging markets, such as Southeast Asia, have a unique type of consumer behavior, requiring a different communication strategy.
They key is to empower this market through means they are highly accustomed to, such as mobile phones and their telco prepaid airtime. This can greatly help in alleviating problems that come with the lack of access to basic banking services and facilities.
XONIO aims to promote financial inclusion by tokenizing telco prepaid airtime. Through telco credits, the base of the pyramid will gain access to the token economy easily.
What is XONIO?
XONIO was created to empower prepaid mobile users to access the token economy and reap the benefits that the blockchain technology can offer.
The XONIO Token is an ERC20 digital currency on the public Ethereum blockchain. It targets mobile consumer adoption of blockchain technology through the use of telco prepaid airtime, offering a unique financial inclusion solution for the digital goods market in emerging countries.
The XONIO Token also powers the XONIO Platform which is a blockchain-based ecosystem where users can convert their telco prepaid airtime to a digital currency that can be used to buy cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum; and purchase digital goods such as eSports game credits, grocery gift cards, digital gift certificates, microinsurance, eMovie tickets, and more.
For more info, visit www.xon.io. Join the community on Telegram.
