Range of Practice in the Regulation and Supervision of Institutions Relevant to Financial Inclusion

This paper reveals the extent to which supervisory and regulatory practices are evolving in response to the emergence of new institutions, financial products, and intermediation channels that service poor and low-income customers in different jurisdictions. It is based on findings from a survey of over 50 Basel Committee members and non-members. The survey was distributed in mid-2013 to a broad range of supervisory authorities and its scope covered a wide range of financial institutions relevant to financial inclusion including those that serve as a delivery platform for insurance and payment products offered to low-income and underserved customers. The survey results include almost 2,000 pieces of data from each respondent. Based on an analysis of the survey results, the paper covers the following sections in detail:

• Macro view of developments in financial inclusion, including some characteristics of the respondent jurisdictions and national policy approaches for enhancing financial inclusion;
• Core principle or group of related core principles and survey results with respect to commercial banks, other banks, financial cooperatives, and other deposit taking institutions;
• Financial consumer protection as applied to all six categories of financial institutions with a focus on the relevance of consumer protection with respect to financial inclusion.