The Working Paper is the third and last paper resulting from a research project on “Measuring Microfinance Impact in the EU. Policy recommendations for Financial and Social Inclusion” (Memi). The project was initiated and supervised by the EIF and was funded by the EIB Institute under the EIB-University Sponsorship Programme (EIBURS). The aim of this project is to contribute to the debate whether microfinance is able to deliver the expected impact in terms of financial and social inclusion.

This paper looks at the state of financial and social inclusion and financial sector development in EU Member States. One of the objectives of the analysis is to find out whether financial and social exclusion can coexist in the same countries, taking into account the development of the financial sector.

The EIF Working Papers are designed to make available to a wider readership selected topics and studies in relation to EIF´s business. The Working Papers are edited by EIF's Research & Market Analysis and are typically authored or co-authored by EIF staff or are written in cooperation with EIF.