Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024
40
3.2 Mobile money usage
Traditionally, the financial sector was predominantly occupied by banks, which were brick-
and-mortar establishments with few branches. In the present day, mobile money, wallets,
branchless banking, and agents among others have been introduced to ensure a lifeline in
the financial sector. This section will unpack the use of mobile wallet from the consumer’s
perspective to understand the factors that lead to usage and the obstacles that stand in the
way of utilisation.
Awareness of mobile money is now substantially high with 98% of Rwandans aware of mo-
bile money. Approximately 77% (6.3 million) of adults have registered mobile wallet, up from
60% (4.3 million) in 2020. About 86% (6.9million) Rwandan adults have used mobile money
services, contributing to high levels of formal financial inclusion. There has been significant
growth in use of mobile money services since 2020, driven also by those who used someone
else’s mobile wallet.
Figure 25: Mobile money status (%)
Mobile money account
Use mobile money (no account)
Not using mobile money
2024
2020
77
60
38
14
9
2
Figure 26 shows the role mobile money plays in making a difference among vulnerable
groups. Among mobile money clients, the majority are from rural areas, youth, and working
in the informal sector or engaged in farming activities.
Figure 26: Mobile money uptake/use by demographics (%)
87
72
81
72
96
95
78
76
59
Self
employed
Urban
Rural
Male
Female
Formal
Informal
Farming
Dependents
Transactions performed: Money transfers, airtime purchases, and bill payments are among
the services available to mobile money users. It is encouraging to note that transactions per-
formed via mobile money go beyond remittances. The highest number of financial transac-
tions performed by mobile money users was depositing or withdrawing money (92%). About
half (52%) of mobile money users used mobile money for sending or receiving money from
someone. It is clear that mobile money is increasingly becoming a savings (38%) and credit
(15%) channel. The collaboration between banks and Mobile Money Operators is yielding
some tangible results but should be taken a notch higher.
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Figure 27: Activities conducted by mobile money users (%)
93
52 41 38 26 16 15 3
Deposited or
withdrew money
Sent money to, or
received money
from someone
Bought airtime
top-ups or paid a
mobile phone bill
Saved money Paid a bill Paid goods
and services
Borrowed
money
Received
wages
Challenges encountered: The main challenge reported by mobile money users is money
laundering (16%). Inconsistent availability of agents (9%), cash availability (8%), and service re-
liability or poor mobile network (8%), fraud (6%) also top the list of key challenges that mobile
money users are facing.
On the affordability question, half (51%) of the mobile money users feel that mobile money
fees or charges are expensive. This may explain the behaviour of adults who prefer to use
cash for transactions.
Barriers: The key barrier for those not using mobile money (23% of the adult population),
relates to not having a mobile phone and lack of product knowledge. Raising greater aware-
ness to encourage use is crucial, especially in rural areas with low uptake.
Figure 28: Barriers to opening a mobile wallet (%)
62
10 9 8 4 3
No mobile phone Do not need
the product (do not
make any transactions)
Other No product knowledge No identification
documents
Affordability
3.3 Microfinance institution
The microfinance sub-sector is an integral component of Rwanda’s financial system. This
sector plays a critical role in driving financial inclusion by connecting the rural population and
lower-income groups to financial sector. FinScope 2024 findings indicate that about 636,000
(8%) adults have accounts with a microfinance institution (MFI), showing a slight decline from
9% (671,000) in 2020. MFI clients are more likely to have savings (391,000 or 5%), than MFI
credit accounts (248,000 or 3%).
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024
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Figure 29: MFI usage (%)
8
5
5
3
2
9
MFI penetration
MFI Savings
MFI Credit
2024
2020
Further analysis or profiling of MFI clients shows that MFIs are extending their services to the
rural populace and the vulnerable. MFIs can also offer their services to different target groups
such as farmers, formally employed, etc. Figure 30 below shows an overview of the profile of
adults who have MFI accounts. They are significantly skewed towards:
Males and adults
residing in rural areas
Seniors aged between
31-45 years
Source of income
from farming.
Figure 30: Penetration of MFIs by demographics
Self
employed
Urban
Rural
Male
Female
Youth
Seniors
Formal
Informal Farming
Dependents
46
54
60
40
33
67
23
17
20
33
7
3.4 Umurenge SACCO
Umurenge SACCO is a government initiative specifically aimed at increasing the accessibil-
ity of financial services to Rwandan citizens. The concept of Umurenge SACCO was based
on an understanding that banks and other financial institutions were more concentrated in
urban areas, while most of the Rwandan population lives in rural areas. Umurenge SACCO is
a Rwandan-based savings and credit cooperative whose objective is to pool savings for the
members and, in turn, provide them with credit facilities. Unlike banks, SACCOs are primarily
formed to raise the social welfare standard of members.
The membership of Umurenge SACCOs has declined to 28% from 36% in 2020, as illustrated
by the FinScope 2024 findings. There are 2.3 million adult members in 2024, compared to 2.5
million in 2020. The use of SACCOs’ accounts is skewed towards savings (15% or 1.2 million),
with only minimal use of SACCOs for credit purposes, (5% or 369,000). Notably, there has
been a drop in Rwandans who are saving via Umurenge SACCO.
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024
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Figure 31: Umurenge SACCO penetration (%)
Overall
penetration
Savings
Credit
2024 2020
6
26
36
5
15
28
Unlike commercial banks, which tend to serve the employed or those with regular and steady
sources of income, and adults residing in the urban areas, the client base of Umurenge SAC-
COs skews towards adults residing in the rural areas of Rwanda. Findings reveal that SACCOs
are also more likely to have more customers who are farmers (43%), and in the informal
sector (28%). The Umurenge SACCOs initiative is proving to be successful in providing formal
services to Rwandans who would most likely not use formal financial services.
Figure 32: Usage of SACCOs by demographics
Self
employed
Urban Rural Male Female Youth Seniors Formal Informal Farming Dependents
27
73
52 48
28
73
8 11
28
43
10
3.5 Savings
Savings are the leading product type and one of the main drivers for financial inclusion in
Rwanda, for both the formal and informal sectors. This is encouraging as savings are the
doorway to enabling adults to create wealth, pay for household furniture and equipment, and
most importantly, enable adults to use savings as collateral for accessing credit. ‘Savings’ in
this survey, refer to money or a store of value that is set aside to pay for something other than
normal expenditure or transactions. Methods or channels of savings vary according to indi-
viduals. This section examines how and where Rwandan people save by comparing different
products and services. It also explores the drivers and barriers to saving.
Overall, about 85% or 6.9 million of the adult population, aged 16 years and older save money,
either formally or informally (including saving at home). Percentage wise, this is a percentage
point decline from 86% in 2020. A slight decline in adults saving via banks is also observed,
but about 60% of adult Rwandans save money through formal devices, including banks (18%
of individuals have savings products from banks) and non-bank formal products (55% of indi-
viduals save at institutions such as mobile money operators and Umurenge SACCOs) up from
48% in 2020. Although there has been a decrease in informal savings compared to 2020, 60%
of adults still save informally, mainly through savings groups. About 15% or 1.3 million adults
do not save money, including keeping cash at home.
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Figure 33: Savings overall (%)
55
60
13
18
15
48
64
13
21
14
2024 2020
Bank
Other Formal (non-bank)
Informal
Save at home
Not saving
The savings strand indicator shows an overall 5% increase in the number of people who used
formal mechanisms to save money and a 6% decrease in the number of adults who saved
through informal mechanisms. About 41% of adults who save formally do not use banks and
23% of adults save informally only.
Figure 34: Savings Strand (%)
Bank Other formal (non-bank Informal Save at home Not saving
2024
2020
18
21
41
59%
54%
33
23
29
15
14
3
2
A large proportion, 60% or 4.8 million Rwandans, use informal savings mechanisms such as
savings groups (about 4 million or 52%) to meet their financial needs. Informal mechanisms or
products, such as VSLA, tontine and or ikibina
1 are popular. A further 11%, or about 900,000
adults, save money through the Ejo Heza fund. This is a significant achievement as Rwanda
seeks to increase savings as a percent of GDP from 14% to 30%. The number of adults who
save or keep money in a secret place at home, or with someone in the household who keeps
the money safe for them, has reduced from 10% to 7% in 2024. Overall, the results show that
savings groups are the main informal channel that Rwandans use, consequently driving infor-
mal financial inclusion.
³ Ikimina “ Tontine” is defined as principle by which a group of people whose members are committed to pay a pre- determined sum at a given frequency to a common fund in order for one of them to take it. Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024 45 Figure 35: Saving channels (%) 2024 2020 52 20 20 18 14 11 7 4 55 22 7 21 22 1 10 5 Saving via a group such as a coop, VSLA, tontine, ikimina Saving through - Mobile Money account Capital market Saving with - Commercial bank Saving through - Umurenge SACCO Ejo Heza fund Saving in secret place at home Saving with MFI or a non-Umurenge SACCO Figure 36 displays the channels adults are using to save, segmented by demographic characteristics. Formal savings are skewed to the following: Males Seniors (31-45 years old) Adults residing in urban areas Informal savings are skewed to the following: Females Seniors Adults residing in rural areas Figure 36: Formal and informal saving by demographic characteristics (%) 62 55 30 46 53 65 65 53 64 52 62 58 Senior Youth Rural Urban Female Male Informal Formal
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024
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Reasons for saving: Exploring the reasons why people save helps financial institutions de-
sign products that are suitable to complement the needs of those who save. Figure 37 shows
that most people currently save because they want to meet household basic living expenses
(70%), followed by meeting life goals (17%, including education, livestock and buying and or
building a house or land, and guarding against emergencies).
Figure 37: Drivers for savings (%)
1
1
1
1
3
4
4
4
5
70
Improving dwelling
Old age
Farming expenses
Providing for family after I die
Medical expenses
Emergencies(excluding medical)
Education/School
Buy livestock
Building/Buying a house/land
Living expenses for when times are hard
Barriers to savings: As shown earlier, 15% of adult Rwandans do not save money. Figure
36 shows the primary reasons that impede adults from saving. The most common reason for
46% of adults is ‘do not have the money to save or invest’. The primary obstacle to saving is
a lack of income or living expenditure, having no money to put away. This barrier is common
across the developing markets and can be addressed by reducing unemployment and creat-
ing better jobs.
Figure 38: Barriers to savings (%)
46
39
8 8 6 5
Do not have the
money to save or
invest
Not working It is too
expensive
Prefer to spend
money on other
thing you need
more
Do not have a
bank account
Never thought
about it
Investments: Some individuals may not prefer to keep cash because it depreciates in val-
ue and instead, choose to keep assets. Rwandan adults are also investing in assets that can
be used to generate income. About a third of Rwandans (39%) also invest in non-financial
mechanisms such as keeping livestock(26%), buying agricultural land for farming (12%). Very
few individuals have used financial assets or instruments with the main barrier being a lack of
product knowledge and affordability or lack of income.
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Figure 39: Types of investments/assets (%)
Bought
livestoke to
generate money
Bought/started a
business
Bought assets
that can use to
generate
Bought
agricultural land
to start farm
Bought
additional
agricultural land
Invested in
property to
rent out
Invested in
someone else's
business
26
16
13 12
7 5
1
3.6 Credit
Increasing domestic credit to the private sector is the most fundamental financial sector tar-
get relating to social and economic transformation. Many of the initiatives in NST 1 directly
support this objective, for example, credit to develop MSMEs, agriculture and housing finance
needs, and the finance and investment in education. Credit is generally referred to as ‘an
agreement or obligation to receive money or goods with a promise to pay it back later’.
Credit can be acquired from formal financial institutions or informally from moneylenders or
friends and family. When acquiring credit, individuals have different objectives to meet. Some
may borrow for productive reasons, while others borrow for consumptive reasons. The study,
therefore, aimed to determine the proportion of adults who borrow money or use credit to
finance capital purchases, daily consumption, or other needs like agricultural inputs.
The findings show that the number of credit-active consumers declined by 13% points, con-
sidering all forms of borrowing. Approximately,63% (5.1 million) of adults have borrowed in
the past 12 months, down from 76% (5.4 million) in 2020. Bank credit uptake has increased
to 10%, or above 825,000 adults having borrowed from the banks in the 12 months before
the survey. This includes, overdrafts, and loans from financial institutions. Approximately 19%,
or 1.5 million adults, borrowed from other formal (non-bank) institutions, such as Umurenge
SACCOs (4,8%), mobile money MoKash (3%), and MFIs (3%). Almost half of Rwandan adults
(47% or 3.9 million), who borrowed money did so from the informal sector. This included bor-
rowing from savings groups (34%) and taking goods from shops in advance and paying later
(15%). Borrowing from friends and family constituted 15% of the adult population. This type
of borrowing is not included in the informal access categories, underscores the reliance on
personal networks for financial support.
Figure 40: Credit overalls (%)
10 8
19
47
15
37
18
61
30
24
2024 2020
Bank
Other Formal (non-bank)
Informal
Family and Friends
Not borrowing
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Figure 41 indicates that the uptake of formal credit has improved from 22% (1.5million) in
2020 to 24% (1,9million) in 2024. There has been a decrease in adults borrowing informally
but not using formal channels (49% in 2020 to 34% in 2024). Overall, the number of those
who did not borrow money in the past 12 months increased by 13%, from 24% in 2020 to 37%
in 2024.
Figure 41: Credit Strand (%)
Bank
Other formal (non-bank
Informal
Family and friends
Not borrowing
2024
2020
24%
22%
10
14
34
4
37
48
14
6
24
8
Of those adults who did not borrow, the survey aimed to determine the barriers to credit (Fig-
ure 42). The three most stated barriers to credit were lack of need to borrow (30%), worried
they would not be able to pay back (24%), and lack of security or collateral (19%). There is a
need to educate Rwandans about borrowing to eliminate their fear of credit, especially for
productive reasons, and to support the financial sector in designing low-risk credit products
tailored primarily to low-income individuals.
Figure 42: Barriers to credit (%)
30
24
19
13
5
4
1
2
Did not need
to borrow
Worried
would not be able
to pay back
Do not have
security/collateral
Other
Do not want
to borrow
Do not meet the
requirements
Interest
charged is high
Previously
defaulted
Table 2 shows the formal or informal channels that adults are using to acquire credit,
segmented by demographic characteristics.
Formal borrowings are skewed to the following:
Males
Seniors
(31-45 years old)
Adults residing
in urban areas
Informal borrowings are skewed to the following:
Females
Seniors
Adults residing
in rural areas