Headline statistics

• 54% of the Tanzanian adult population are financially excluded and do not use either formal or informal financial products.

• Only 9% of the population use formal services and 1% use formal other financial services.

• 11% of people have a bank account, which breaks down to 16% in urban areas and only 4% in rural areas.

• The semi-formal sector comprises 3%, made up of 1% using semi-formal MFIs and 2% using semi-formal SACCOS.

• 35% of the population use informal products (including friends and family).

• 15% of the population use friends and family as their sole source of financial access.

• Only 26% of people interviewed had heard of interest on savings accounts, however, none understood how this worked.

Access to financial services on mainland Tanzania as well as in Zanzibar is extremely low: 89% of people do not have a bank account, and only 4% of those who claim to borrow money have had a loan from a bank. There is, however, a significant informal market. It is three times larger than the formal or semi-formal market.

The survey highlighted the gap between the urban and rural populations. In urban areas 45% of the adult population (defined as 16 years and older) is excluded from any kind of financial service. This rises to 57% in rural areas. It also highlighted the youth of the population – 50% is under the age of 15.

In Tanzania, the vast number of people using the informal market represents future customers who may be open to learning about the advantages of having a bank account as well as being given the ability to access one.

 

Surveys

A first FinScope Zambia in Tanzania survey was carried out in 2006 with interviews in Kiswahili with 5000 people in both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The findings were launched in 2007.

The Financial Access Strand for Tanzania was modified to better differentiate the Tanzanian financial market. It includes two semi-formal categories: people who use microfinance institutions (MFIs) and savings and credit co-operatives (SACCOs) that are formally registered but not supervised by a regulator. Tanzania is also the only country where adult Tanzanians served by family and friends have been included in the informally served segment. Everywhere else this customer group is captured in the excluded segment.

A second FinScope Consumer survey is being conducted and a FinScope Small Business Survey is also underway. The results will be launched in 2009.

 

Funding and implementation

The Financial Sector Deepening Trust funded a collaboration of the Steadman Group, the National Bureau of Statistics and FinMark Trust to conduct the survey. The Steadman Group carried out the research.

 

Dissemination of data

The findings were launched in a series of eight workshops with about 160 representatives of government agencies, the Central Bank, commercial banks, the insurance industry, mobile phone service providers, SACCOs and MFIs participating. The FinScope Tanzania dataset is not freely available. Steadman Group provides market research services as well as analysis tailored to the demand of the requesting institution.

 

Using the data

 To be completed.

      

Contact

Annette Altvater

Tel.:     + 255 (0)22 212 9060

Fax:     + 255 (0)22 212 9063

Mobile: + 255 (0)754 263 171

Annette.alvater@fsdt.or.tz