RESULTS SERIES
        ACCELERATING WOMEN’S FINANCIAL INCLUSION
        IN BANGLADESH’S GARMENT SECTOR



Growing evidence suggests the transition            In Bangladesh, only 36 percent of women
to digital payments via mobile banking can          have a formal bank account, compared with 65
save money and time for employers and give          percent of men.1 Mobile financial services (MFS)
employees access to formal financial services       show great promise in addressing this gap,
with more control over their financial lives.       particularly because they can reach populations,
Women may find themselves opening their             including women living in rural areas, that are
very first bank account to receive their salaries   expensive for banks. Yet just one percent of
electronically; this may also encourage savings.    women in Bangladesh held mobile accounts in
                                                    2016.2 Bangladesh’s economically crucial ready-
THE CHALLENGE                                       made garment sector (RMG) employs around
                                                    3.4 million women, of whom 81 percent are
                                                    unbanked. Digitizing wage payments in this
                                                    sector could have a significant impact on women’s
      65%                   36%                     financial inclusion.

      of men                of women                To reach more women, a joint IFC and Bangladesh
own a formal bank account                           Bank initiative developed the business case for
                                                    electronic wage payments through quantifying
                                                    cost savings and production efficiencies
                                                    for garment factories, identifying revenue
               81%
               of female garment workers in
                                                    opportunities for MFS providers, and developing
                                                    MFS wage disbursement toolkit (including
                                                    technical process flow, training and financial
               Bangladesh are unbanked
                                                    literacy materials). It helped secure buy-in from
                                                    the MFS sector. During 2016 and 2018, more than
                                                    70,000 female garment workers opened mobile
THE RESULT                                          financial accounts, allowing them to send money,
                                                    build savings, and make payments securely.
     Over 70,000 of female garment workers          A positive momentum has been created for
     opened mobile financial accounts               wage digitization in the sector. The Bangladesh
     between 2016 and 2018.

     Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers
     and Exporters Association has                  1
                                                       emirguc-Kunt, Asli; Klapper, Leora; Singer, Dorothe; Ansar,
                                                      D
     expressed interest in adoption of                Saniya; Hess, Jake Richard. 2018. The Global Findex Database
                                                      2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution
     digital wage payment across its                  (English). Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.
     4,500 member factories.                        2
                                                      Financial Inclusion Insights. Bangladesh 2016
Garment      Manufacturers    and     Exporters                 better involve women in the sector. During the
Association (BGMEA) and international retail                    intervention’s second phase, an action plan, a
brands are convinced to advance the adoption of                 toolkit, and a case study were piloted to facilitate
digital wage payments across the sector. Primary                and scale up the market for digitized wage
assessment demonstrates improvements in                         payments. The toolkit outlined how providers
women’s livelihood and financial empowerment.                   could hire more women and identified two
Women are shifting to MFS as transactions are                   women-focused MFS products. This toolkit has
conducted faster and conveniently without any                   since been incorporated by the World Bank’s
risks associated with carrying cash. Despite                    Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global
limited control over intrahousehold decisions,                  Practice into a Global Financial Inclusion Toolkit,
MFS transactions can be performed without                       which will be used to scale up women’s financial
seeking approval of others.                                     inclusion in other countries.

The intervention first undertook a nationwide                   The BGMEA has expressed interest in the
market study of 4,000 women. This demonstrated                  adoption of digital wage payments across
the commercial potential of MFS to serve more                   its 4,500 member factories. By bringing the
women, and revealed barriers to women’s                         leading industry body on board, the project
adoption and use of these services, including a                 shows promise in ensuring wage digitalization is
lack of female sales agents. Findings were used                 adopted across the sector and replicated in other
to develop a roadmap to guide private sector                    industries to benefit more female workers. The
providers and other stakeholders, including                     wage digitization model is replicated in Haiti and
development institutions and regulators, to                     Cambodia by IFC Advisory.




The Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality is a World Bank Group multidonor trust fund investing in knowledge, diagnostics,
impact evaluations and data to help policy makers and practitioners close gender gaps in countries and sectors. Learn more
on www.worldbank.org/gender/ufge