The Central Bank of Brazil released its Financial Citizenship Report 2025 and, in a 13 April LiveBC broadcast, senior officials outlined its main findings on financial citizenship in Brazil, with a focus on low-income groups and a new cut of credit use by gender and race. The report is framed around four pillars of financial citizenship and adds a global discussion on financial well-being aligned with agendas referenced by the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Officials highlighted that Brazil has reached 96% of the adult population with a bank account, attributing the advance to long-term public policies and technological innovation, including Pix, which they said broadened effective account use and brought previously excluded users into the system. They pointed to a “last mile” challenge involving the remaining 4% without relationships with financial institutions and inactive users, mainly men, older people, and residents in the North and Northeast, alongside a renewed focus on the quality of inclusion through education and consumer protection. The report also flags credit quality concerns: while access has expanded to 117 million people with active credit operations, around 53 million use high-interest products such as revolving credit card balances and interest-bearing instalments. For the first time, the report analyses credit by gender and race, indicating differences in credit composition and observed interest rates, including heavier use of high-cost card credit among women and particularly among Black women, who were described as paying the highest interest rates overall despite being the highest users of lower-rate productive microcredit lines. It also covers over-indebtedness and the growth of scams, reinforcing the need for ongoing protection, supervision and financial education, including education delivered by financial institutions to their customers.
Central Bank of Brazil’s Financial Citizenship Report 2025 shows 96% of adults banked and maps credit use by gender and race
The Central Bank of Brazil’s Financial Citizenship Report 2025 highlights near-universal account ownership at 96% of adults but identifies a “last mile” inclusion challenge among remaining unbanked and inactive users, and a need to improve inclusion quality through education and consumer protection. It flags credit risks, with 53 million of 117 million borrowers using high-interest products, and presents gender and race-based analysis showing heavier use of costly card credit and higher interest rates for women, particularly Black women, despite greater use of lower-rate productive microcredit. It also notes rising over-indebtedness and scams, underscoring the importance of continued protection, supervision and financial education.