About 109,000 households in Fiji miss out on savings, credit and other financial services.

This is according to a UNDP report on Fiji's Financial Services Sector Assessment released by the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme, which is based on a field research conducted last year.

The report stated that the untapped savings demand, largely present in the rural areas, stands at least $70 million.

Further, the unmet demand for credit, mainly present in the urban areas, is at least $57 million and there are over 130,000 Fijians who could benefit from insurance products in the short term.

The report highlighted that compared to other Pacific Island countries, the financial sector in Fiji is well developed, with a broad range of services provided by the commercial banks, non bank financial institutions, credit institutions, insurance companies and microfinance institutions.

However, the report points out that the banking sector's physical presence, products and services are largely designed to serve the business sector, government, expatriates, the wealthy and the salaried urban population, there are still missed opportunities to provide better financial services to more Fiji Islanders.

The report stated that Fiji has an infrastructure that is favourable towards the microfinance, which can adequately serve the untapped markets.

It goes on to say that Fiji's legal and regulatory environment, increasingly sophisticated and affordable telecommunications services as well the Reserve Bank of Fiji's keen interest in promoting microfinance are all ingredients that can make microfinance more accessible to the people of Fiji.

The report further highlighted the lack of appropriate products and retail institutions to deliver them as one of the main obstacles to microfinance services in Fiji.

The report provides suggestions on how to overcome these hurdles.