Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024 56 Figure 56: Started using or used more financial services or products since Covid started (%) Used More Started Using Mobile money Card swiping Bank transfer/ Mobile banking Borrowed money Saved money Card tapping Sending money to someone not living with you Savings groups Online shopping 9 0 1 3 5 1 3 5 3 13 0 2 3 6 1 6 3 5 3.13 Remittances Remittances are believed to help households smooth out their income flows and even to fund small enterprises. Contextually, remittances involve the sending or receiving of money from one person to another via a medium. Remittances can be made within the country or beyond the national borders. This section provides insights on access and use of money transfers (remittances), as well as on the remitting channels through which money transfer transactions are made. Domestic remittances have increased from 45% in 2020 to 55% in 2024 but cross-border remittances have dropped to 4% from 6% in 2020. About 55% (4.5 million) of Rwandans have remitted money domestically in the past six months while 4% (350,000) have sent or received money outside Rwanda. For both domestic and cross-border remittances, a higher propor- tion of adults have received money versus those who have sent money. Figure 57: Remittances – Cross-border and domestic (%)
2024 2020 2024 2020 45 3 4 4 6 1 2 33 35 40 46 55 Received money from within Rwanda Sent money within Rwanda Total Domestic remittances Received money from outside Rwanda Sent money outside Rwanda Total International remittances Overall, around 5.4 million or 65% of Rwandan adults have either sent and/or received money driven largely by domestic remittances. About 63% of adults used non-bank channels while 4% or 309,000 people, remitted money via a bank channel. Formal channels are the most
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024
57
common mechanism used to transfer money and mobile money is the most common mech-
anism used.
Figure 58: Remittances mechanism
2024 2020
Banking channels
Other Formal (non-bank)
Family / Friends
Do not remit money
4
60
1
35
2
42
3
55
Figure 59 reveals that most adults in Rwanda who received money from their loved ones
used it primarily for meeting daily expenses like buying food, clothes, medicine, and paying
school fees. This trend indicates the significance of remittances in supporting the vulnerable.
Encouragingly, about 10% of adults use the money to start a business or for investment pur -
poses.
Figure 59: Main uses for money received (%)
53
10 9 5 4
Food/clothes Business School fees Investment Medical fees/medicine
3.14 Landscape of access
The landscape of access is used to illustrate the extent to which formally financially included
individuals have or use formal products/mechanisms and highlights the drivers of formal in-
clusion. This excludes those borrowing from family or friends and those who save at home or
a secret hiding place. The quadrangles indicate the degree of access to the five main products
provided: savings, credit, transactions, remittances and insurance for 2020 and 2024.
The diagrams depicted in Figure 60 summarise the main findings of this study regarding the
breadth of financial access. Rwanda’s financial inclusion is driven by transactional activities
(usage of mobile money and bank accounts), which are mainly used for payments/transfers.
Transactions fuelled by mobile money services are the main factor driving the use of financial
products and services. Drivers of formal financial inclusion remain similar to 2020, driven by
transactional activities, savings and transfers/remittances.
Figure 60: Landscape of access (of those using formal financial products/services)
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024
58
77
71
28
22
56
Transactional
Savings
Credit
Insurance
Remittance
Transactional
Savings
Credit
Insurance
Remittance
2020
79
64
26
30
69
2024
3.15 Depth Strand
The depth strand indicates whether adults are thinly or broadly served by the financial sector.
The depth strand looks at both formal and informal products or services.
The number of adults relying on one product remained the same and the majority of these
adults have a transactional/payment product. There has been a decrease in adults having
two products but a positive increase to three and more products in 2024. Compared to 2020
when 12% (853,000) of adults had or used four landscape products, the number increased to
17% ( 1.4 million) in 2024. This implies that more Rwandan adults who have a transactional/
payment product are saving, insured, and have credit products. The focus of the depth strand
is to go beyond having an account and to have second-generation products. The aim of the
National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) should be to deepen financial inclusion and have
more adults with insurance, access to credit and savings/retirement products.
Figure 61: Depth strand (landscape product portfolio)
2024
2020
17
12
38
37
25
30
13
13
7
9
Zero product(no formal/ informal product)
One product portfolio
Two product portfolio
Three product portfolio
Four product portfolio
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59
4
DFS UPTAKE, QUALITY OF FINANCIAL
SERVICES AND RESPONSIBLE FINANCE
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60
4.1 Digital financial services (DFS)
Rwanda has the potential to be a country in which citizens use DFS well beyond the currently
prevalent person-to-person (P2P) and cash-in and out transactions. According to the FSDS,
this will be achieved by encompassing ecosystems where citizens receive and spend income
digitally, including at merchant points, schools, health providers, and for government pay-
ments, as well as e-commerce eventually.
In 2008, Rwanda embarked on its first Vision and Strategy for the payment system, aiming to
modernize and enhance financial services. It is safe to say the Rwanda’s journey towards a
cashless economy started with its first 2018 Vision and Strategy for the payment system. The
Rwanda National Payment System (RNPS) Strategy 2018–2024 reaffirms the commitment
of the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning’s
(MINECOFIN) commitment to encourage the use of electronic payments by all residents of
Rwanda, to achieve a cashless society. Over the years, mobile operators introduced essential
services and products such as payments (MoMoPay, Bill & Utility Payment, Taxes, Insurance,
Transport, and Bulk Payments).
It seems this strategic initiative was crucial for the country’s economic development and tran-
sition toward a cashless economy. As there has been a huge surge between 2020 and 2024
in the number of Rwandans who have performed transactions digitally, though falling short
to reach the 2024 target of 100%. Figure 62 shows a significant growth in the use of digital
finance services (excluding those who use mobile money to send and receive money ONLY/
Cash-in and Cash-out) from 30%, or 2.1 million in 2020 to 73 % or 5.9 million in 2024. Fin-
Scope 2024 paints an encouraging picture of digitalisation showing greater interoperability
and innovation that have led individuals and businesses to use electronic financial services in
ways that will in the future lead to the reduction of the use of cash and paper-based instru-
ments.
Figure 62: Digital financial services (%) 30 73 2020 2024 4.1.1 Drivers of digital financial services FinScope Consumer 2024 shows that adult Rwandans are embracing digital payments – 73% of adults have performed digital financial transactions. Mobile money dominates the digital payment landscape and is seen as an enabler in the continued growth of digitisation. Disturb- ingly, digital income payments (18%) are relatively low, given the fact that almost three-quar- ters of Rwandans have a transactional account (either a bank or a mobile wallet). Rwandans receive their income money in cash (76%) and prefer to spend in cash (92%) on the following activities: Food (88%); water and energy bills (34%); education (44%) communication (65%);
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024 61 medical expenses (45%); farming inputs (45%). Digital channels mainly mobile money is pre- ferred in the following activities: Energy (25%), medical expenses (31%); education (14%). Fig- ure 63 shows that Rwandans still prefer, or mainly use, cash and there is a need to continue encouraging them to migrate from a cash mindset towards digital payment/platforms for efficiency, security, and better user experience. Figure 63: Channels used to perform financial transactions 18 76 70 92 73 93 Income - cash Income - digital Merchant payment - digital Merchant payment - cash DFS overall Cash overall 4.2 Quality of financial services and Responsible finance Financial capability is of great importance in Rwanda. Its purpose is to provide consumers with the knowledge to safeguard themselves against unfair or exploitative practices, as well as to improve decision-making regarding financial products and services appropriate to their needs. Consumer empowerment and financial service providers’ transparency are key pillars of financial capability and are of great importance in Rwanda. This section looks at consumer empowerment and the level of transparency experienced. Table 4 shows that the majority of Rwandans (who have their own money that they can use as they wish) have a lower score of consumer empowerment. Fewer individuals agreed that they know what to do when not satisfied with services, are confident enough to make complaints and understand contracts of the financial products. There is need to educate consumers, regularly assess financial literacy and complaint handling to ensure a more informed and empowered consumer base. Table 4: Consumer process of choosing and using financial products (%) Statements Agree Comparing options and choosing the best one that suits your needs 62 Knowing what to do when not satisfied with a financial service 47 Confident enough to make a complaint 44 Understanding terms and conditions in the contract with a financial institution 45 Have used Gereranya (a device to compare prices) 28 Transparency is increasingly important in the financial services industry, where a variety of people and businesses are fundamentally connected in one economy. Rwanda demonstrates commendably high consumer empowerment scores, where consumers can rate and review services openly. Table 5 indicates that two-thirds of Rwandans can relate to an incident where they perceived transparency. Examples include being informed of changes to the fees or charges (40%), receiving clear information on financial products/services recently bought (64%) and not being surprised about financial services/products fees at a later stage (83%). Transparency is essential to build trust and confidence in financial institutions. Financial in- stitutions should continue to use simple language in contracts, and update consumers when there are some changes related to financial products or services.
Rwanda FinScope Survey 2024 62 Table 5: Statements used to calculate transparency incidence (%) Statements 2024 YES Do you feel that the information on financial products or services bought recently was provided to you in a clear and easily understandable manner 64 Taken a financial product/service and has not been surprised about the fees/ charges associated with that product 83 Were informed of changes to fees or charges of financial products/services 40 Fair treatment Fair treatment promotes trust, financial stability and ultimately economic growth. Although a lower proportion of Rwandan adults feel that financial institutions treat them fairly, it can be clearly seen from the below table that majority of those who use financial institutions have not been taken advantage of by their financial service provider. It is vital to ensure that cus- tomers are fairly treated and are happy with their products. Table 6: Statements about fair treatment (%)
Statements Yes No Never used You feel that financial institutions treat you fairly 55 21 25 Have been threatened, or treated in a violent, humiliating manner by a financial service provider 3 82 15 Have been taken advantage of or misguided by a financial service provider 3 81 15 Have been sold a financial product by a financial institution or telecommunication company and later noticed that it was not in your best interest to take it 2 83 15 Have been sold a loan without the financial service provider assessing your capability of paying back the loan 2 79 19 Financial knowledge Financial knowledge is essential for individuals, business and societies to make informed de- cisions and achieve financial well-being. Rwandans are doing well in terms of understanding basic arithmetic concepts however looking at the level of understanding economic concepts such as inflation shows that Rwandans still require more financial education to better make informed decisions. Table 7: Statements testing financial knowledge/numeracy (%) Statements Correct answer (%) Five friends are given a gift of 20 000 Rwf and they have to share the money equally 72 You lend 5 000 Rwf to a friend one evening, and he gives you 5 000 Rwf back the next day. How much interest has he paid on this loan? 85 The friends have to wait for one year to get their share of the 20 000 Rwf and inflation remains the same. In one year’s, time will they be able to buy the same amount 11