This thesis sheds light on the factors that drive access to formal, semi-formal, and informal financial services in South Africa. This is critical for policymaking. Therefore, the primary purpose of the thesis is to clearly articulate the determinants of access to financial services by individuals in South Africa and to illustrate that being in poverty is a determinant of access to financial services. Access to financial services is well entrenched in South Africa, with various initiatives, such as the financial sector charter and bank products targeting the lower end of the market (e.g., Mzansi accounts). As a result, the percentage of banked South Africans has increased. However, South Africa still faces challenges concerning access to financial services, which is uneven. In addition, the high concentration of large banks, which account for more than 84 per cent of assets within the banking sector, also stifles access to financial services in the country. Access to financial services in South Africa is not equal across all groups. Race and gender remain important variables in the lack of access, and Black African women are at the bottom of the pile (Derera et al., 2014). Moreover, despite the increase in informal financial services, policymakers and researchers have paid limited attention to this area. Instead, more focus has been on formal financial services. As a result, there is no clear articulation of what factors determine an individual’s choice of formal, semi-formal or informal financial services. Literature has shown no straightforward approach to defining and measuring access to financial services. However, there are specific characteristics, such as constant availability of financial services, quality of financial services, and potential contribution to well-being. The thesis helps understand that the link between access to financial services and poverty is two-dimensional, and the two need not be dealt with separately or in isolation. Therefore, the broad research question for this thesis is to understand what determines the factors of access to financial services and the implications of being in poverty. The specific research questions the thesis answers include: ?What are the individual factors that determine access to financial services? ?Do the determinants of access to financial services differ when an individual accesses the services through formal, semi-formal, or informal means? ?What is the role of subjective poverty on access to financial services? ?How does the economy, inflation, and banking concentration affect access tofinancial services? The thesis begins with a description and analysis of access to financial services. After that, explanatory analysis is followed to investigate the determinants of access to financial services and how banking concentration, economic growth, and inflation influence an individual’s decision-making on accessing financial services. The conditional fixed-effect logistic regression model has been applied to analyse the determinants of access to financial services using demographic indicators, banking concentration, growth, and inflation as independent variables. The thesis uses various proxies to measure access to financial services, such as a bank account, bank bond, micro-lender loan, stokvel, and friend or family loan, to test the determinants of access using the poverty dimension. Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) 2008-2017, a nationally represented households’ survey dataset from South Africa, the thesis is theoretically underpinned by an access possibility frontier conceptual framework that identifies different demand and supply constraints on broad access to financial services. The objective is to arrive at an enhanced understanding of what factors drive an individual to access financial services through a particular institution or form. What influences the decision-making process of an individual? The empirical findings indicate that microeconomic and macroeconomic effects support the importance of an inclusive financial system. Microeconomic aspects influence access to financial services: The thesis provides compelling evidence of income, employment, education level, life satisfaction, banking concentration, and favourable macroeconomic conditions as the key determinants of access to financial services in South Africa. A striking finding is that poverty – subjective well-being – is a factor in the lack of access to financial services. The study finding is that an individual is less likely to access financial services without income or employment regardless of the form – formal, semi-formal or informal. In other words, a poor individual without income is less likely to access financial services. The findings conclude that determinants of access to financial services differ between formal, semi-formal and informal. The results also confirm that access to a bank account opens up more opportunities for an individual to broaden access to other financial services. The results further indicate the significance of having a bank account on formal access to financial services and other forms of access to financial services. The study found that having a bank account increases an individual’s odds of accessing a bank bond, micro-lender loan, stokvel or loan from a friend or family member. The research also debunks the myth that informal financial services are for the illiterate. For example, tertiary education is one of the determinants of access to a stokvel in South Africa. Therefore, policymakers need to be mindful of the interaction between access to financial services and poverty. Also, policymakers must balance access to formal, semi-formal and informal financial services. For example, are there innovative ways to use financial services without converting one to another, such as informal to formal? The policy implications of the study are instructive. Government efforts to promote access to financial services are synonymous with encouraging growth. Interventions can be pursued based on evidence-based knowledge that the well-being of an individual fosters access to financial services. Thus, interventions should ideally target the poor who rely more on informal financial services than formal financial services.