The younger segment of population has higher banking knowledge and more access to financial services than the old in the country.
The Institute of Microfinance (InM) came up with its observation following a study on the access to financial services by ages.
Mobile banking and school banking have significant impact on developing financial literacy among the youngest, said MA Baqui Khalily, executive director of InM.
Khalily made the remark while presenting the study findings at the seminar on “Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion in Bangladesh” held at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital.
The analysis shows that 36% of youngest groups aged 30 and less have banking knowledge. The age group ranges between 31 and 40 have almost same banking knowledge.
The trend reveals that banking knowledge declines as the age increases. This segment of population covers 29%, with their age ranging between 51 and 60.
In case of gender, male groups have more banking knowledge than the female. Around 44% male has bank-related knowledge while 26.23% goes for female.
The study found that banking knowledge has positive impact on financial inclusion as people with more bank-related knowledge have more access to savings and credit.
The report finds that people of industry, business, service and professional backgrounds have more banking knowledge as their works are involved with banking activities.
The banking knowledgeable rate increases in line with the level of education. This could be because as people get more educated they are likely to be more exposed to financial services, according to the findings of the study.
The youngest groups have higher knowledge about banking services because literacy has improved significantly in recent two decades, observed Akhtaruzzaman, economic advisor of Bangladesh Bank.