New Frontiers in Banking Services (eBook)

Preface 5
List of Contributions 6
Contents 8
Introduction 12
Part I 14
1 Access to Bank Accounts and Payment Services 15
1.1 Introduction: Financial Exclusion 15
1.2 Interests, Concerns and Possible Solutions 21
1.3 The Issue of Measurement and Comparative Analysis 40
1.4 Types of Response 45
1.5 Case Studies 53
1.6 Results from a Survey in France, Italy and Spain 94
1.7 Conclusions and Future Perspectives 105
1.8 References 109
2 Access to Credit: the Difficulties of Households 116
2.1 Introduction 116
2.2 The Use of Credit by Households 117
2.3 A Theoretical Framework for Credit Exclusion 126
2.4 Beating Credit Exclusion 132
2.5 Conclusions and Policy Implications 143
2.6 References 146
3 Access to Investments and Asset Building for Low Income People 150
3.1 Saving and Asset Accumulation for LMIs: Theoretic Framework 150
3.2 The USA Experience with the Individual Development Accounts ( IDAs) 154
3.3 Saving and Asset Accumulation with Tax Refunds 171
3.5 Conclusions 181
3.6 References and Bibliography 182
3.7 APPENDIX 187
Appendix to Part I 191
Methodological Notes to the Field Research in France, Italy and Spain 191
Part II 196
4 What Are the Specific Economic Gains from Improved Financial Inclusion? A Tentative Methodology for Estimating These Gains 197
4.1 Introduction 197
4.2 Defining Financial Exclusion 198
4.3 European Evidence on Exclusion 199
4.4 Market Context and European Policy Responses 201
4.5 From Exclusion to Inclusion: Identifying the Costs and Benefits 205
4.6 Measuring the Economic Gains from Improved Financial Inclusion 213
4.7 Conclusion 215
4.8 References and Bibliography 216
5 From Financial Exclusion to Overindebtedness: the Paradox of Difficulties for People on Low Incomes? 218
5.1 Introduction1 218
5.2 A Definition of Financial Exclusion as a Social Phenomenon 220
5.3 Access and Use of Credit: the Importance of Social Constraints 226
5.4 The Mechanisms Underlying Access and Use Difficulties 232
5.5 Conclusion 246
5.6 References 248
6 The Role of German Savings Banks in Preventing Financial Exclusion 251
6.1 Introduction 251
6.2 Savings Banks as a Part of the German Banking System 253
6.3 Is the Public Mandate of the Savings Banks Obsolete or a Successful Strategy to Prevent Financial Exclusion? 258
6.4 Financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises 263
6.6 Future Outlook on the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe 266
6.7 References 269
7 Economic Growth and the Financial Inclusion: the Case of Poland 274
7.1 Introduction 274
7.2 Transformation of the Polish Banking Sector and Provision of Banking Services 276
7.3 Provision of Banking Services to Households and Corporations 285
7.4 Models of Bank Services to SME 290
7.5 Barriers to Providing Banking Services to SME: Results of Bank Surveys 293
7.6 Conclusions 297
7.7 References 300
8 Italian Banks’ Credit Approach Towards Low- Income Consumers and Microenterprises: Is There a Bias Against Some Segments of Customers? 302
8.1 Introduction 302
8.2 Methodologies of Credit Risk Measurement: Credit Scoring Models 305
8.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Credit Scoring 310
8.4 The Effects of the Adoption of Credit Scoring on a Marginal Borrower’s Credit Process 313
8.5 The Experiences of Some Italian Banks 316
8.6 Conclusions 321
8.7 References 322
9 Banking the Poor: Policies to Bring Low- and Moderate- Income Households in the United States into the Financial Mainstream1 325
9.1 The “Unbanked” and the “Underbanked” 325
9.2 The Banking Sector 329
9.3 Payments Systems and Distribution Networks 335
9.4 Transforming Financial Services for the Poor 341
9.5 Conclusion 351
9.6 References 352
10 Migrants and Remittances 354
10.1 Migration Phenomena: Modern-day Elements of an Ancient Phenomenon 354
10.2 The Risk of Financial Exclusion Within a Broader Perspective 356
10.3 Migration Phases and Personal Variables as Key Elements of Financial Needs 357
10.4 Migrant Remittance Behaviour 366
10.5 Conclusions 369
10.6 References 371
11 Conclusions 373
Editors and Contributing Authors 376