Publication

This paper analyzes Latin America’s level of financial inclusion, meaning the share of households and firms that use formal financial services, and compares it to a set of comparator countries. The main findings suggest that institutional deficiencies and income inequality are the most important reasons behind Latin America’s comparatively low level of financial inclusion. The authors also find that the difference in the probability of being financially included between the richest and the poorest individuals is significantly higher in Latin America than in comparator countries.