Banking and Social Cohesion: Alternative Responses to a Global Market

In many poor communities whole populations are without financial services of any kind. This book is about the alternatives, and they take many forms. While banks are not charities, in some countries charities are becoming banks. Elsewhere governments are working with banks to address issues of poverty and social cohesion. New forms of financial services are destined to play an important role within both developed and developing countries all over the world. Contributors to this book examine bank exclusion in the UK; how poor communities and small enterprises in the US are excluded; the impact of new technology; and the causes of the finance gap. Examples are drawn from the North and South, the UK, the US, Germany, and Italy's first ethical bank.