63% of Dominicans have a bank account and 12% have been able to save in the last year

The significant advances that the Dominican Republic has achieved in financial inclusion, according to the latest data from the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025, are direct results of the joint effort of the monetary and financial authorities together with multiple banks, with the aim of promoting access to formal financial services, valued the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA).

The ABA recalled that, in the case of the Dominican Republic, the latest data from the study show relevant progress for the country and one of them is that, between 2011 (which was the first year of publication) and 2025, the percentage of people with a savings account in a formal financial institution went from 38% to 63%.

Also, the Global Findex data, as of July 2025, reveals that people who saved during the last 12 months increased from 16% to 27%, surpassing the Latin American average (24%); likewise, people who borrowed from a formal institution during the last 12 months increased from 24% to 29%, also surpassing the countries of the region (27%).

The ABA considered that these results demonstrate the sustained and strategic commitment of the banking sector to modernization, digitalization, and the widespread access of citizens to formal financial services.

“The aforementioned advances would not have been possible without the determined commitment of Dominican multiple banks to the digitalization of their services and the transformation of their business models, relying on technology to enable alternative customer service channels to the traditional bank branch,” stated the ABA, highlighting among these internet banking, mobile applications, instant messaging services, and innovative processes such as digital onboarding.

In order to promote formality and greater access to banking services, including micro, small, and micro-enterprises, the guild has encouraged the establishment of the Movable Guarantee System for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, the We Finance Code to disaggregate banking access data with a gender focus, the Alternative Data Score for unbanked people, among other initiatives.

The ABA highlighted, as an essential aspect, the impetus from the authorities to advance the purpose of closing the financial gap, whose efforts include the National Financial Inclusion Strategy led by the Central Bank and other relevant initiatives.

The financial system sector is on the right track

The ABA recalled that financial inclusion is defined as the degree of access that people and companies have to financial products and services such as transactions, payments, savings, credits, insurance, among others. Due to the existing correlation between higher levels of financial inclusion, poverty reduction and the depth of financial systems, the interest in measuring and monitoring the progress of countries in this matter is increasingly important.

“For this reason, the positive results observed in the Global FINDEX indicate that the national financial-banking system is on the right track and should be an incentive for financial intermediation entities, regulators, and supervisors to continue paving the way for more and more Dominican households and businesses to access the formal financial system and be able to undertake their consumption or investment projects,” said the guild.

He also highlighted that the Digitization Ranking of the Superintendency of Banks reflects that, by 2024, 94% of multiple banks already had online banking platforms, totaling approximately 7.8 million users and, in addition, 94% of banks have mobile applications and more than 63% provide services via instant messaging. “Thanks to these developments, today, more than half of the population (53%) makes or receives digital payments, compared to 38% in 2011,” he stated. The ABA assured that these advances are even more meritorious when taking into account that, since 2003, the country has gone through various systemic crises that have negatively and considerably impacted the number of people and companies with access to financial services. As an example, he cited the COVID19 crisis which, according to statements by the Superintendent of Banks, caused the formal financial system to lose about 30