UNSGSA Queen Máxima Visits the Philippines to Support Scaling Up Financial Services for Better Financial Health

H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), is scheduled to visit the Philippines from May 21-23, 2024. The visit will focus on advancing key foundational building blocks for financial inclusion—including connectivity, digital identification, and digital payments—as well as enhancing financial health and resilience against economic and climate-related challenges for Filipinos. 

In recent years, the Philippines has seen considerable progress in financial access, with the proportion of adults owning a bank account rising from 26.6% in 2011 to 51.4% in 2021, as reported by the World Bank Global Findex. However, despite these gains, the Philippines remains among the world's top 10 countries with the highest number of unbanked adults at approximately 37.6 million.