Financial Inclusion - Special Financial Stability Reports - First Half 2023
The main purpose of these reports is to monitor the vulnerabilities and risks of the financial system. Opinions and potential errors are the sole responsibility of the authors, and their contents do not compromise the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (the Central Bank of Colombia).
The Special Financial Stability Reports accompany the publication of the Financial Stability Report and provide a more detailed analysis of some aspects and risks relevant to the stability of the Colombian financial system: market liquidity risk, market risk, credit risk, financial burden, loan portfolio, and housing market in Colombia, international indicators, concentration, and competition in the deposit and credit markets, corporate sector surveys, and financial inclusion.
This special report presents an analysis of financial inclusion in the credit market from a gender perspective. In particular, it examines the characteristics of the stock of loans and credit disbursements granted by credit institutions (CIs) to men and women. As of March 2023, gaps are still observed—mostly unfavorable to women—in terms of number of loans, loan amounts, and interest rates. This contrasts with the behavior of aggregate risk indicators, which are more favorable for women across all loan modalities. Additionally, a trend toward closing gaps is evident, especially in the housing loan portfolio. By type of CI, banks exhibit the largest gaps in favor of men in terms of number of loans and loan amounts.
For credit disbursements, similar results are found, mostly reflecting larger disbursements to men. As of May 2023, microcredit shows the smallest gender gap, followed by housing and consumer loans. By credit segment, higher disbursements to men are observed, except in some segments such as credit card consumer loans for clients earning less than two current legal monthly minimum wages, VIS housing acquisition, UVR-denominated housing acquisition, and small-amount microcredit.
