Financial Inclusion in Malaysia : Distilling Lessons for Other Countries

Malaysia has achieved one of the highest levels of financial inclusion among Southeast Asia countries, due in part to policies taking advantage of mobile phones and banking agents to expand access. The report looks at specific actions, programs, and strategies that have contributed to enhance financial inclusion in the country and highlights key learnings to benefit low- and middle-income countries with similar ambitions. The report also notes that there is no single factor that can explain Malaysia's success in financial inclusion. The progress that Malaysia has achieved is the result of efforts undertaken by authorities and the financial sector industry over the past 20 years. The country has been able to achieve sustainable growth of its financial system over a long period of time, reconciling two policy objectives, namely "financial stability" and "financial inclusion", in a successful manner so far. Malaysia faces two main challenges in terms of financial inclusion. First Malaysia will need to reach out to the remaining under-served population. Secondly, a major challenge is how to ensure that the people with access to financial services actually make active use of their accounts.