Philippine Daily Inquirer – The Philippines is considered one of the laggards in the Asia-Pacific region in the area of financial services reach, ranking only 12th out of 15 countries in terms of the proportion of working-age population who have accounts with banks or other financial institutions.

Results of a regional survey, done recently by various institutions including the US Agency for International Development, showed that only 26.56 percent of Filipinos aged 15 years old and above have accounts with banks or financial entities.
This proportion is better than the nearly 20 percent for Vietnam and Indonesia, and the less than 10 percent for Cambodia.

Meantime, the countries with the best financial service reach are New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore, where nearly 100 percent of working-age individuals have accounts with banks or other financial institutions.
Other countries that got the highest rankings—that is, countries where the proportion of working-age individuals …