Access to Finance - June 2021
| June 2021 | |||
| Jun 21 | Dec 20 | Jun 20 | |
| Total Access Points1 | 872 | 988 | 969 |
| NUmber of Branches | 65 | 65 | 73 |
| Number of Agents^ | 338 | 345 | 332 |
| Number of EFTPOS | 445 | 553 | 537 |
| Number of ATM | 24 | 25 | 27 |
| Source: Banks & Non-Banks | |||
| ^ - Agents are any third party acting on behalf of a bank to deal directly with customers. E.g. retails stores, etc. | |||
| 1 - Including Non-Banks access points | |||
The Reserve Bank continues to carry out its function in promoting financial inclusion in Tonga through the ongoing monitor of the access and usage of financial products by individuals.
Access indicators declined over the year
Over the year ended June 2021, the number of cash in and cash out access point indicators was lower than last year's. This was due to the fall in the number of banks’ EFTPOS terminals and agents (refer Table 1 below).
Table 1: Access Point per 10,000 adults - Banks and Non-Banks
| Indicators | 2021 | 2020 | 20192 | 20151 |
| Number of cash-in and cash-out access points per 10,000 adults | 136 | 151 | 144 | 32 |
| Number of brances per 10,000 adults | 10 | 11 | 11 | 2 |
| Number of ATMs per 10,000 adults | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Number of EFTPOS per 10,000 adults | 69 | 84 | 77 | 26 |
| Number of Agents per 10,000 adults | 53 | 52 | 52 | 3 |
| Source: Banks & Non-Banks | ||||
| 1 - Tonga's financial inclusion benchmark | ||||
| 2 - Commencement collecting Non-Banks data | ||||
In terms of constituency, Tongatapu 2 and Tongatapu 4 drove the decline in the total number of access points mainly due to the decline in the number of EFTPOS terminals in these two constituencies. According to the banks, the decrease in EFTPOS terminals over the year was mainly due to no activity on these terminals, especially during the pandemic and closed borders. The lower number of branches and ATMs also contributed to the decrease in access points, particularly in the Ongo Niuas 17 and Vava’u 15, respectively (refer to Annex 1). The decline in the number of branches in Vava’u 15 reflected the closing down of the ANZ branch in Vava’u in late 2020. This was followed by the removal of their ATM machine in Vava’u.
On the other hand, the number of agents increased, reflecting the continuous effort made by one of the big banks to expand their footprint in the country. The set-up of agents is less expensive than the set-up of a branch in rural and remote areas. The closing down of the Foreign Exchange Dealers agents in the Ongo Niuas 17 was driven by the impact of smaller banks trying to maintain their US dollar accounts with their correspondence banks. The decline in the number of EFTPOS was led by BSP, followed by ANZ (refer to Annex 2). On the other hand, the decrease in the number of branches was led by non-banks, particularly the Foreign Exchange Dealers (refer to Annex 3). The National Reserve Bank has commenced recording access points for both Pension Fund Non-Banks Institutions since December 2020.
Usage indicators showed a positive outcome
The usage of financial service in banks indicators reflected a higher outcome over the year ending June 2021, with an increase in both the total number of individual deposit accounts and the number of individual loan accounts (refer to Table 2). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed financial consumers behaviour, which is reflected in the increase in usage of financial services providing digital services (internet/online banking). These digital services are mainly facilitated by banks. In addition, the increase in the total number of individual loan accounts was due to the continuous banks’ loan campaign activities, including the lowering of interest rates and expansion of loans to two additional sectors (Government Funded Loan). The increase in the number of deposit accounts also corresponds to the rise in the number of loan accounts due to the requirement by banks to open a deposit account to facilitate the drawdown of loans.
Table 3: Usage of financial services indicators - Banks
| Indicators | 2021 | 2020 | 20192 | 20151 |
| Number of regulated deposit accounts per 10,000 adults | 16,184 | 15,801 | 15,024 | 5,604 |
| Number of regulated credit accounts per 10,000 adults | 2,233 | 2,205 | 2,006 | 521 |
| Source: Banks | ||||
| 1 - Tonga's financial inclusion benchmark | ||||
| 2 - Includes data from Non-Banks Institutions | ||||
Usage of financial services increase on deposits owned by women
The increase in the total number of individual deposit accounts was mainly driven by the higher number of individual deposit accounts owned by the female population. On the contrary, the number of individual loan accounts owned by women declined while the number of individual loan accounts held by males increased. This reflects the landownership advantage of males are the key collateral requirements for loans, e.g. housing loans. (refer to Annex 4).
Conclusion
Tonga’s access to financial services is very much linked to the impact of COVID-19 over the year ended to June 2021, reflecting the increase in remittances and the use of digital financial services which are convenient for those sending remittances to Tonga. Social distancing and lockdowns have strengthened the use of digital financial services and remittances have supported the increase in deposit accounts.
Annex 1: Summary of Banks & Non-Banks Access Points by Constituency
June 21
| Constituency | June 21 | ||||
| Total Access Points | No. of Branches | No. of Agents1 | No. of EFTPOS | No. ATMs | |
| Tongatapu 1 | 46 | 1 | 19 | 25 | 1 |
| Tongatapu 2 | 239 | 24 | 29 | 168 | 18 |
| Tongatapu 3 | 50 | 1 | 15 | 34 | 0 |
| Tongatapu 4 | 159 | 3 | 22 | 134 | 0 |
| Tongatapu 5 | 35 | 1 | 25 | 9 | 0 |
| Tongatapu 6 | 41 | 1 | 33 | 6 | 1 |
| Tongatapu 7 | 34 | 1 | 22 | 11 | 0 |
| Tongatapu 8 | 34 | 0 | 22 | 12 | 0 |
| Tongatapu 9 | 40 | 5 | 24 | 10 | 1 |
| Tongatapu 10 | 28 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 'Eua 11 | 40 | 7 | 27 | 5 | 1 |
| Ha'apai 12 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 1 |
| Ha'apai 13 | 17 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| Vava'u 14 | 18 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| Vava'u 15 | 52 | 11 | 16 | 24 | 1 |
| Vava'u 16 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Ongo Niua 17 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 872 | 65 | 338 | 445 | 24 |
| Source: Banks & Non-Banks | |||||
| 1 - Including SPBD Village Centres | |||||
Annex 2: Summary of Access Points by Banks
Annex 3: Summary of Access Points by Non-Banks
Annex 3: Summary of Access Points by Non-Banks
| Banks & Non-Banks | Jun 21 | Jun 20 | Year ended - Jun 21 | |||||
| Total | Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Change | % Change | |
| No. of Deposit Accounts | 103,699 | 69,742 | 33,957 | 101,248 | 59,364 | 41,884 | 2,451 | 2% |
| No. of Loan Accounts | 14,305 | 9,695 | 4,610 | 14,127 | 4,609 | 9,518 | 178 | 1% |
| Source: Banks & Non-Banks | ||||||||
Enquiries
Financial Access Department
National Reserve Bank of Tonga
NUKU'ALOFA
Telephone: (676) 24057
Fax: (676) 24201
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Access to Finance Report Releases
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Access To Finance - June 2021 Released on 15 November 2021 | 164 KB |
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Access To Finance - June 2020 Released on 7 September 2020 | 152 KB |
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Access To Finance - June 2018 Released on 30 July 2019 | 120 KB |
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Access To Finance - June 2017 Released on 15 August 2018 | 140 KB |
