I am joined by Theodora Hadjimichael from Responsible Finance and Kay Polley from the Finance Innovation Lab to discuss how policymakers and regulators can encourage the UK mainstream financial sector to play a greater role in promoting financial inclusion. We discuss policy tools to support the growth of regional financial institutions, requiring banks to provide services to financially vulnerable consumers, and compelling banks to provide greater support for community-based financial institutions.

Underpinned by government guarantees and regulation, French banks provide significant support for microfinance providers in the form of loans, equity, subsidies and staff secondments. In this episode, I am joined by Laure Coussirat Coustere, from leading French microfinance provider Adie, and Alexandre Nayme, from major microfinance investor BNP Paribas, to dissect the scale, impact and drivers of this support and what we can implement in a UK context.

The German model of regional banks has been credited with providing better local access to financial services, maybe especially for small businesses. German

With origins in the civil rights movement and evidence about redlining of communities of colour, the Community Reinvestment Act requires banks to serve low and moderate-income communities. As banks can fulfil their obligations under CRA by funding community-based lenders, the act has significantly increased bank funding of CDFIs. In this episode, I discuss the impact of the CRA on the CDFI sector and key lessons for the UK with Mark Pinsky (CDFI Friendly America), Joan Broadhead (Community First Fund) and Yanki Tshering (Accompany Capital)

In many if not most Developed economies, mainstream financial institutions are expected to promote financial inclusion by serving vulnerable groups and supporting alternative community-based service provision. In this episode, I am joined by Prof Karl Dayson (University of Lincoln) to discuss societal expectations of banks and the roots of these expectations

Trailer for the third series of the Innovation in Financial Inclusion podcast, in which I will be exploring how we can create a more inclusive financial system and what we can learn from other countries, such as the US, Germany and France.

In the final episode Pål takes stock of financial education in the UK and discusses what it might or should look like in the future. He is joined by Quentin Nason from City Pay it Forward.

Pål talks about community-based financial education with Kate McQueen from the Money Charity and Toynbee Hall’s Matt Dronfield. The discussion covers content and delivery, key delivery partners and how to engage local residents.

Jonathan Watts-Lay from WEALTH at work and Kayleigh Frost at Health Assured join Pål to talk about financial education delivered at people’s places of work. The discussion touches on delivery and content, challenges and innovative practice.