YouthSave 2010-2015: Findings from a Global Financial Inclusion Partnership

Donors, policymakers, financial services providers, and researchers have become increasingly interested in recent years in the potential of youth-focused financial services to improve the life chances for young people. Created in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, YouthSave investigated the potential of savings accounts as a tool for youth development and financial inclusion in developing countries. YouthSave did this by co-designing tailored, sustainable savings products with local financial institutions and assessing their performance and development outcomes with local researchers. 

YouthSave 2010-2015: Findings from a Global Financial Inclusion Partnership presents the Consortium’s key findings, which include:

• Product features, financial institution outreach, parental support, proper incentives (both for young customers and for bank staff), savings reminders, and physical proximity all were important factors in increasing young people’s savings frequency and balances.
• Specific factors included: whether the signature of a parent was required for a young person to open an account or whether that of another “trusted adult” would suffice; whether official government-issued identity documents were required; and whether the young person was reachable via in-school marketing.
• Special effort will be required to reach out-of-school youth.