Underbanked

The underbanked are people or businesses that have poor access to mainstream financial services such as banks and so rely upon alternative financial services targeted at poor people such as cheque cashers, loan sharks and pawnbrokers They may be distinguished from the unbanked who have no banking facilities at all.[1]

Contents

Distribution

Small countries have less banking provision than large countries even allowing for the smaller size of their economies.[2]

Remediation

There are many microfinance initiatives such as the Grameen Bank which aim to improve the provision of banking and financial services to poor communities.

References

  1. ^ Nicolas Paul Retsinas, Eric S. Belsky (2005). Building assets, building credit. Brookings Institution Press. pp. 299. ISBN 9780815774099. http://books.google.com/?id=oPDpI6nypmEC&pg=PA299 
  2. ^ James Hanson (2003). "4". Globalization and National Financial Systems. World Bank. pp. 91. ISBN 9780821352083. http://books.google.com/?id=RsgIA8NiyzIC. 

Further reading