"This paper explores the extent to which formal, regulated financial institutions such as banks have been able to partner with "correspondents"- commercial entities whose primary objective and business is other than the provision of financial services. The paper illustrates the case of Brazil, where banks recently have developed extensive networks of such correspondents. Such arrangements result in lower costs and shared risks for participating financial institutions, making these arrangements an attractive vehicle for outreach to the underserved. Correspondent banking requires an enabling environment to emerge, and poses some regulatory challenges and some increase in risk. While there are reasons why this model was particularly successful in Brazil, it may be replicable elsewhere if appropriate regulatory adjustments are undertaken."

This paper explores the extent to which formal, regulated financial institutions such as banks have been able to partner with "correspondents"--Commercial entities whose primary objective and business is other than the provision of financial services. The paper illustrates the case of Brazil, where banks recently have developed extensive networks of such correspondents. Such arrangements result in lower costs and shared risks for participating financial institutions, making these arrangements an attractive vehicle for outreach to the underserved. Correspondent banking requires an enabling environment to emerge, and poses some regulatory challenges and some increase in risk. While there are reasons why this model was particularly successful in Brazil, it may be replicable elsewhere if appropriate regulatory adjustments are undertaken.

Technology, Policy, and Inclusion looks at the intersections between public policy and technology in India. It explores the barriers in instituting effective governance and development and examines how these can be mitigated through technological interventions in developing countries. Increased digitisation of the economy has added to the development challenges in India and issues such as exclusion and social inequality. This volume stresses the need for governments to leverage technology to bring more vulnerable and marginalised groups into the fold of financial and social inclusion. It also focuses on the importance of regulation for a responsible integration of technologies and minimising risks. The book includes examples and case studies from different areas including management of the COVID-19 pandemic through digital means, real estate digital infrastructure, digital census, e-markets for farmers, and government interventions that use technology to deliver financial services in remote areas of the country. It also outlines various solutions for fostering equity and socio-economic development. Part of the Innovations, Practice and the Future of Public Policy in India series, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of public policy, political science, development studies, and sociology as well as policy professionals and technocrats. This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

More than one billion people still live below the poverty line – most of them in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial inclusion is a major issue, as more than three-quarters of the numbers of poor and disadvantaged women and men do not have access to financial products and services, such as bank accounts, affordable and suitable loans, and insurance. The key objective of this book is to provide practical case studies of financial inclusion, rather than focus on academic debates such as the ideological basis of promoting microfinance. Using the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals as an overall framing of the issues, it shows how poor and disadvantaged women and men can be bankable if the right facilitation for maximizing opportunities and addressing constraints are in place. Case studies confirm that achieving inclusive and sustainable access to financial products and services goes beyond simply enabling poor and disadvantaged women and men to have access to credit, or the ability to open a bank account. Examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America demonstrate encouraging progress in making microcredit accessible to millions of poor people. The foremost challenge, however, has been to ensure that they have access to, and usage intensity of, suitable and affordable financial products and services that meet the needs of their livelihoods as well as risks and mitigation strategies. This requires understanding that poor and disadvantaged women and men do not exist in isolation from complex and interdependent functions in the financial system, which includes a number of actors, diversified services, constraints (not just symptoms) and capacities and incentives. Overall, the book provides a rich source of examples of how building inclusive financial systems can empower the world's poor – by increasing income and employment opportunities, securing livelihoods and reducing poverty.

This study is the first in a decade to provide an overview of banking in Brazil. It is argued that the big three federal banks have long provided essential policy alternatives and, since the liberalization of the industry in the 1990s, have realized competitive advantages over private and foreign banks.

A Brookings Institution Press and Asian Development Bank Institute publication The rapid spread and far-reaching impact of the global financial crisis have highlighted the need for strengthening financial systems in advanced economies and emerging markets. Emerging markets face particular challenges in developing their nascent financial systems and making them resilient to domestic and external shocks. Financial reforms are critical to these economies as they pursue programs of high and sustainable growth. In this timely volume Masahiro Kawai, Eswar Prasad, and their contributors offer a systematic overview of recent developments in—and the latest thinking about—regulatory frameworks in both advanced countries and emerging markets. Their analyses and observations clearly point out the challenges to improving regulation, efficiency of markets, and access to the fi nancial system. Policymakers and financial managers in emerging markets are struggling to learn from the crisis and will need to grapple with some key questions as they restructure and reform their financial markets: • What lessons does the global financial crisis of 2007–09 offer for the establishment of efficient and flexible regulatory structures? • How can policymakers develop broader financial markets while managing the associated risks? • How—or should—they make the formal financial system more accessible to more people? • How might they best contend with multinational financial institutions? This book is an important step in getting a better grasp of these issues and making progress toward solutions that strike a balance between promoting financial market development and efficiency on the one hand, and ensuring financial stability on the other.