Mobile Phones Are Driving a Surge in Africa Bank Accounts: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- An increase in the number of people using mobile phones to bank is boosting financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa, where 43 percent of adults had an account last year, compared with 34 percent in 2014. The World Bank’s Global Findex Database shows that regional disparities abound. Financial inclusion in Kenya, where two-thirds of people over 15 have an account linked to their mobile phones, reached 82 percent in 2017, but it fell 5 percentage points to 39 percent in Nigeria, where 5.6 percent of adults have embraced the technology.

--With assistance from Paul Wallace

To contact the reporter on this story: Yinka Ibukun in Lagos at yibukun@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels, Hilton Shone

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