According to the report, about 14.78% of private firms globally are fully credit constrained, while 16.23% have only partial access to credit—meaning more than 30% of private enterprises struggle to obtain the financing needed to grow.
A new study by the World Bank has found that the rapid digitalization of payments is fundamentally reshaping access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in developing economies. The report, titled “Firm Credit Constraints and Electronic Payments: A Global Analysis ,” shows that digital transaction data is becoming a powerful alternative to traditional financial records, enabling lenders to assess businesses that were previously considered too risky or “data-sparse” to finance.
The findings highlight a long-standing challenge in many economies, especially across Africa, where a large share of business activity is conducted in cash. In such environments, many SMEs remain “credit invisible” because they lack formal banking histories or verifiable financial statements. According to the report, about 14.78% of private firms globally are fully credit constrained, while 16.23% have only partial access to credit—meaning more than 30% of private enterprises struggle to obtain the financing needed to grow.
The World Bank notes that the rise of digital payments—including mobile money, bank transfers, and e-wallets—creates an alternative financial footprint that helps close this gap. Each inbound digital payment generates a verifiable record of a firm’s sales activity, allowing lenders to reconstruct reliable cash flow histories over time. The study emphasizes that receiving digital payments is particularly important, as it directly reflects revenue generation, unlike outgoing payments which only show spending patterns.
Quantitatively, the report finds that firms adopting electronic payment systems reduce their likelihood of being fully credit constrained by an average of 3.3 percentage points, effectively closing about 22% of the global credit gap. The impact is especially strong among small firms, those without audited financial statements, and businesses operating in low-income or highly informal economies where traditional credit infrastructure is weak or absent.
Africa is identified as a key region where these dynamics are most pronounced. The continent combines low penetration of traditional banking infrastructure with extremely high adoption of mobile money services. According to GSMA data, more than $1.4 trillion flows through African mobile money systems, which account for 52% of global mobile wallets and 66% of global digital transaction values.
Across the region, fintech companies and financial service providers are increasingly using transaction data to extend credit in innovative ways. In East Africa, micro-lending platforms analyze mobile money histories to provide rapid working capital to small retailers. In West Africa, digital payment systems integrated into merchant point-of-sale terminals use real-time sales data to automatically determine credit limits and loan eligibility.
Overall, the report concludes that mobile money and digital payments are transforming financial inclusion by converting everyday transactions into actionable credit intelligence. This shift is enabling lenders to better assess risk, expand access to finance, and unlock new levels of productivity and growth for previously underserved businesses across Africa.
