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Tackling Financial Exclusion Through Local Finance Partnerships

Publication Papers

The ability to access fair and affordable financial services remains a challenge for millions of UK residents and businesses. Unlocking better access and greater choice would to help manage everyday finances, and have significant beneficial knock-on effects for the wider economy and society. An array of interventions is targeted at the financial exclusion challenge, with reasonable success. These include locally-based responsible finance providers like credit unions and responsible loan funds (also called CDFIs), government funds to stimulate both on-lending and innovation, a mandate for banks to provide all consumers with bank accounts, and tighter regulation on high cost credit providers. And more recently the introduction of financial technology (‘FinTech’) firms and technology-based initiatives are helping to tackle financial exclusion through digital routes.

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