-Of we have too narrow a conception of financial inclusion, or limit our discussion to financial institutions, we cannot effectively respond to this market reality, a point that has already been raised by previous speakers. That is, we must be cautious about the claim that access to financial products and services is solely a financial or market consideration. -So while we must work with markets and accept that sometimes disadvantaged groups may have higher costs for some institutions, we should not always accept that established practice actually represents effective and competitive markets. Nor indeed we should accept that policy cannot respond only by focusing on existing financial institutions and their regulation Policies: discuss 2 or 3 -Banking: In Europe, bank accounts is a necessary product for economic participation. Those without a bank account are limited to the cash economy, where jobs are uncertain, promotion is unlikely, and pay is low. Throughout Europe, ethnic minorities are more likely to work in the less secure and profitable cash economy. -Perhaps, then, banking may be viewed as a utility, like electricity or water. This has policy implications: we might promote a ‘right’ to a bank account or work with financial providers to design better products for low income people. -Savings: In thinking about savings policy, we move into macroeconomic and taxation policy. This is an area that we must engage with better. Currently in Europe, there are many savings products that have significant tax incentives, including pensions, and most of the benefits of these tax incentives go to the better off. We should think about how policy could better distribute the lost tax income that Finance Ministries receive in savings tax incentives, in particular how they might be better distributed in the bottom quintile of earners, where ethnic minorities are more likely to be. -Disclosure: This idea, based on the 1970s US Community Reinvestment Act, is that financial institutions should be required to disclose (or reveal) who they lend to, broken down by socio-economic and demographic groups, including gender and race. In some countries this is not possible, where data is not collected, but this is perhaps another reason to support data collection. -Policies for the Global South: property rights and microcredit. For time reasons, I cannot explain, but there are obviously crucial ways of improving financial and social inclusion 5. Adapting Existing Institutions or Supporting New Ones -However, one point I would like to make is that these latter policies raise an important Question in thinking about actually DELIVERING financial inclusion: Should we try to adapt or reform the institutions we’ve got, or should we try to support the creation of new institutions. In many ways, existing financial institutions are not interested in low-income customers, as explained by my colleague from the US in thinking about loans to minority farmers. This partly explains the growth of microcredit institutions. In all countries, bank offices are typically located in better-off areas, and their products are designed for better-off people. We therefore need to think whether efficient markets – but also social and economic justice – is better served by regulating existing institutions to provide more appropriate and fairer products to all, or whether we should support 6.