Definition
The unbanked are adults who do not have their own bank accounts. Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial services for their financial needs, where these are available.
Unbanked
What is ‘Unbanked’
A slang term for people who do not use banks or banking institutions in any capacity. Unbanked persons generally pay for things in cash or else purchase money orders. Unbanked persons also typically do not have insurance, pensions or any other type of professional money-related services.
Explaining ‘Unbanked’
People can choose to be unbanked for many reasons. Criminals avoid using financial institutions because law enforcement officials can track their actions in their accounts. Older people who survived the Great Depression may have a deep distrust of all financial institutions and therefore do not use them. Extremely poor individuals may also have no need for the banking system as they try to survive their day-to-day lives.
Further Reading
- The importance of check-cashing businesses to the unbanked: Racial/ethnic differences – www.mitpressjournals.org [PDF]
- The unbanked: evidence from Indonesia – academic.oup.com [PDF]
- Can mobile phones really work to extend banking services to the unbanked? Empirical lessons from selected Sub-Saharan Africa countries – worldscholars.org [PDF]
- How effective is lifeline banking in assisting the'unbanked'? – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- Blockchain entrepreneurship opportunity in the practices of the unbanked – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
- Banking the unbanked: What do 255 million new bank accounts reveal about financial access? – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- 'All data is credit data': Constituting the unbanked – journals.sagepub.com [PDF]
- Banking unbanked immigrants through remittances – ideas.repec.org [PDF]
