This Tuesday, June 4, 2024, Banca de las Oportunidades and the Financial Superintendence of Colombia (SFC) delivered their most recent report on financial inclusion.
In it it was revealed that appetite for credit products decreased.
According to the entity’s figures, in 2023 it decreased 0.9 percentage points (pps.) the number of people who had at least one credit product in force.
“13.5 million adults, corresponding to 35.3%, had at least one credit product in force. This figure decreased by 0.9 percentage points (pp.) compared to the previous year,” the report noted.
That is About 135,000 fewer adults had less credit compared to 2022.
According to the information, In 2023, the products with the highest penetration were credit cards and consumer credit.
In that order, microcredit and housing credit followed.
In 2023, entities supervised by the Superintendency such as microfinance NGOs not supervised by either the SFC or the SES made 175.9 million disbursements for consumption (98.7%), microcredit (1.1%), housing (0 .1%) and low-amount consumption (0.1%).
“The credit market continues to face structural challenges to strengthen and grow, especially in the productive segments, in which pre-pandemic levels have not yet been reached in the indicator of access to credit,” said Paola Arias, director of Banca de Oportunidades. .
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In addition, the expert highlighted that the gross portfolio as a percentage of GDP was reduced to 42.4%, reaching deepening levels from ten years ago.
Financial inclusion increased
Another of the data that said report revealed is about the progress of financial inclusion that During 2023 it showed an increase.
The indicator revealed that it went from 92.3% in 2022 to 94.6% in 2023. This corresponds to 36.1 million adults with transactional financial products, savings or formal financing.
In addition, 30.8 million adults had a savings account and 27.5 million low-amount deposits, associated with digital wallets, which consolidate their growth path with 4.1 million new users compared to 2022.
“The results show an increase in access and use of financial products; However, gaps persist between the rural and urban sectors, as well as between women and men, so one of the challenges of the entities of the financial system is the granting of credit but focused on productive projects and not on consumption, something which we hope to energize with the development of open finance, one of the strategic projects we have at the SFC,” said the financial superintendent, César Ferrari.
