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trade or services activities. The financial inclusion as a whole is very important for long-term
economic growth and it plays vital role in reduction of poverty and unequal opportunities, and
thus in the macroeconomic environment (Burgess & Pande, 2005; Levine 2005).
Many stakeholders are interested in increasing the level of financial inclusion and many of them
may have an influence on it. Financial inclusion at the satisfactory level requires collaborative
work of many global and national-level policymakers and stakeholders including central banks
(Mehrotra & Yetman, 2015), government agencies, the private sector, and the development
partners. Central banks and the government agencies should improve enabling environments,
the private sector (banks and other formal financial institutions) should ethically and
professionally deliver financial products and services to their consumers, and the development
partners need to provide support and assistance for great financial inclusion (Chanthana, 2015).
The Governments of many countries strongly believe that improving access to finance and
improving the use of financial services will raise people’s and businesses’ welfare. In many
countries is developed the National Strategy of Financial Inclusion. The governments and
monetary authorities have had many high-level discussions on financial inclusion, which have
focused on how to provide better access to banking services (Tambunan, 2015) for all.
The research problem and methodology
Presented aspects of financial inclusion with emphasis on financial inclusion in firms was
inspiration to pay attention to its main areas and degree of usage of financial products by firms
and to compare the degree of financial inclusion between individuals and enterprises.
The theoretical part of research was the study of literature to describe the necessity of having
account and savings and the need for access to the capital in formal financial institutions as well
as to present the way of measurement of financial inclusion. In this part of paper mainly
academically reviewed articles and reports on financial inclusion and other articles prepared by
World Bank and OECD) were used.
Data analyzed in empirical part of the paper were collected under the Enterprise Surveys
conducted on behalf of the World Bank (World Bank, 2015a) and under the research on
financial inclusion of adults (World Bank, 2015b). The Enterprise Survey was answered by
business owners and top managers from 135 countries. The indicators were computed using
data from manufacturing firms (larges economies, medium-sized economies and smaller
economies). While the research on financial inclusion was conducted among adults from 143
countries, after the presentation of the meaning and role of financial inclusion for individuals
and for enterprises, the comparative analysis of degree of financial inclusion in different regions
of the world was conducted.
The main areas and measurement of financial inclusion
Having an account in a formal financial institution is seen as an entry point to the formal
financial sector. The account gives a lot of possibilities to its owner: facilitates the transfer of
wages, remittances, and government payments, allows for savings and open access to credit. In
this meaning the banking account seems to be a driving force for financial inclusion. There are a
lot of examples in literature for positive relationship between banks and retail customers due
to previous cooperation. For example, such cooperation prior to a loan application significantly
reduces the default rates of loans given to these customers. The scientists have found these
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