NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, July 28, 2017

Through one means of another, nearly one million Colombians entered the formal financial system for the first time in 2016, according to the Colombian financial industry authority.

The exact number of previously “unbanked” Colombians who in 2016 established some form of ties to the sector was 999,187 people, an increase of 5.6% over the total who joined the system in 2015.

In all, per figures released this month by the Financial Superintendent of Colombia (Superfinanciera), 25.7 million adults in the country now have used at least one financial product. Of those who were added to that total last year, more than half were women and more than 70% were between the ages of 18 and 40.