Latin America's un- and underbanked consumers offer foreign banks a large, accessible market

Over a third of adults in the region don’t have a bank account. Only the Middle East and Africa has a larger proportion of unbanked consumers, per 2021 World Bank data analyzed by BCG. And the unbanked population is unevenly distributed: Just 59% of low-income consumers and 40% of rural inhabitants in Latin America have access to a banking account, per a January 2023 Mastercard and Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) survey.

Even more consumers are underbanked. Forty-two percent of adults in Latin America don’t have a credit card, per BCG’s analysis of World Bank data. And less than a third overall have access to alternative credit options like loans and investments, according to Mastercard and AMI.

For banks seeking growth, the rise of Latin America’s consumer class signals a surge in demand for financial products and services. As of 2024, 61% of the region’s population belonged to the consumer class (individuals who can afford nonessential goods and services), versus just 29% in Africa and 43% in Asia, per World Data Lab data cited by EBANX. That proportion will grow to 66% by 2034.

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