Financial Inclusion Report, April 2024

The physical infrastructure of the financial system exhibited a slight expansion in 2023 boosted by ATMs and supplementary agencies of financial services (agencias complementarias de servicios financieros, ACSFs) | Points of access to financial services (puntos de acceso, PDAs) rose by 1.8% y.o.y. in terms of the population. The growth of ATMs (+864 devices) and ACSFs meant that new municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants added at least one PDA. This way, 52.7% of municipalities in Argentina—where 92.5% of the adult population lives—offer physical financial services.

Point-of-sale (POS) terminals continued on the rise during 2023 | The number of POS devices reached 5.3 million, exhibiting an upward trend during the past 5 years in line with greater use of electronic means of payment.

Access to accounts kept on growing in 2023 | More than one million people joined the segment of the population with at least one bank or payment account. Virtually all the adult population has at least one account. In addition, the number of people with both bank and payment accounts kept on growing and stood at six out of ten adults.

The use of accounts grew | The share of account holders making at least one transaction in any of their accounts reached 70.3% in the last quarter of 2023, compared to 56.7% in the same period of 2022.

Transactions through electronic means of payment went on exhibiting an upward trend in 2023 at a faster pace than previous years | Adults made on average 30 electronic payments per month, 68% more than in 2022. Instant payments (transfers and payments by transfer)—involving lower costs and shorter terms for paying shops—boosted this growth.

Money market funds (MMFs) gained share in natural persons’ (NPs) savings and investment products | The share of FCDs in NPs’ stock of savings and investment products increased from 4.3% to 8.1% during 2023, while accounts at payment service providers with balances in FCDs rose from 6 million to 14 million. This occurred in a context of a 16.6% contraction in NPs’ stock of savings and investment at constant prices.

During 2023, new NP clients had access to credit products, but the average balance per debtor decreased | The number of NPs with financing from the broad financial system (BFS)—made up of financial institutions and non-financial credit providers (proveedores no financieros de crédito, PNFCs)—increased 4.2% compared to December 2022, while the average balance per debtor at constant prices shrank 29%. This dynamic recorded in the past few years was mainly explained by PNFCs.

More than one million MSMEs had obtained a credit product from the BFS as of December 2023 | This number is slightly below on a year-on-year basis. The stock of financing continued exhibiting a downward trend and recorded a 11.9% y.o.y. fall at constant prices. As regards credit to the non-financial private sector (sector privado no financiero, SPNF), financing to MSMEs grew by 5 p.p. against December 2022, accounting for 56% of the total.

Companies and organizations holding accounts reached 495,300 and those with financing from the BFS reached 230,100 | Companies and organizations with accounts and with financing from the BFS grew by 27% and 38%, respectively, compared to March 2019. However, the average stock of financing per company and organization has fallen by 60% since March 2019.

Download document

April 26, 2024