Financial Inclusion Services Research

This study aims to provide the 'South East England Development Agency' (SEEDA) with an assessment of the nature of 'Community Development Finance Institutions' (CDFIs) and credit unions (CUs) in the region, and the extent to which they can deliver sustainable services to financially excluded people.The paper states that:

• CDFIs and CUs operate within a business model that balances income generation with a social mission to tackle financial exclusion;
• However, in order to fulfill their potential, the CDF and CU sectors in the South-East need to step-up to meet the challenge of financial scale.

The study:

• Reviews challenges and recommends a development path for the sector.
• Demonstrates how SEEDA can use its leadership role in economic development in the South-East to:
  • Facilitate the delivery of effective financial inclusion services;
  • Increase the economic viability of employment;
  • Tackle the culture of worklessness;
  • Mitigate the economic costs of financial exclusion.

The study makes the following conclusions about CDFIs and CUs in the South-East:

• Some of them have demonstrated the potential to tackle the problems of personal and enterprise financial exclusion in the region;
• They work under difficult circumstances, reaching communities that other approaches do not touch;
• They are innovating and challenging organizations that invest sustainably in local communities;
• They offer long term sustainability because of their capacity to recycle investment.