Can Regulation Promote Financial Inclusion?

Chen, Rong ; Divanbeigi, Raian

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: FINANCIAL INCLUSION;    REGULATION;    SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES;    ACCESS TO FINANCE;    FINANCIAL SERVICES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8711
RP-ID  :  WPS8711

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Despite the commitments of thedevelopment community toward broader access to finance,financial inclusion rates worldwide are ratherunsatisfactory. To date, around two billion adults do nothave access to basic financial services such as savings andchecking accounts. Attempting to bridge such gap betweenpolicy objectives and outcomes, several economists haveprobed the determinants of financial inclusion. This papercontributes to the debate by investigating the role playedby financial regulation. First, the paper proposes a broadindex of regulatory quality for financial inclusion,emphasizing the role of nontraditional delivery models, forexample, branchless banking, and actors, for example,nonbank lending institutions. Second, the paper tests therelationship between regulatory quality and financialinclusion outcomes. The analysis finds that in countrieswhere regulatory quality is within the top quartile,individuals are 12.4 percent more likely to have an accountat a financial institution with respect to bottom quartile countries.