While impact evaluations of formalized savings groups show that they can improve financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment in a variety of settings in sub-Saharan Africa, only very few studies examine the impact of informal savings groups. This paper examines the association between informal savings group membership, individual-level asset ownership, and household-level decision-making power for men and women using panel data from a nationally representative sample from Nigeria. We find a small but statistically significant association between informal savings group participation, and women’s decision-making power and asset ownership in the household, but high drop-out rates from informal savings groups, especially for women. We hypothesize that informal savings group participation in Nigeria may not provide women with sufficient finance to accumulate resources required for investments in larger assets. We discuss implications for the design of formalized savings groups, with a focus on in-group trust, group governance, and access to capital.

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