Fostering financial inclusion

Inclusive growth, or shared growth, is supposed to allow people to equitably share the benefits of economic development, making poverty reduction efforts more effective by creating productive economic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable sectors of society. This refers not only to people's material well-being, but also to human rights and democracy.

There is no doubt that it is impossible to achieve inclusive growth without promoting financial inclusion. Access to basic financial products and services, such as savings, loans, payment, money transfer and insurance, is badly needed by people on low incomes.

Unfortunately, in the today's world, about 2.5 billion adults - 263 million of whom are in China - are "unbanked", that is, they do not use formal financial services to save or borrow. About 2.2 billion of these "unserved" adults live in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Last year, China Banking Regulatory Commission figures showed that 2,945 townships in China did not have access to local banks.