The Unassuming Economist

From a speech by Sarah Pritchard:

“Financial inclusion, enabled by innovation, unlocks economic opportunity.

I saw this in action myself when I visited a debt charity in Glasgow recently.

Staff told me how clients used to walk in carrying literal shopping bags of paperwork – bank statements, bills, scraps of paper with notes jotted on them.

You can imagine the time it took trying to piece it all together, not to mention how overwhelming it must have been for the clients themselves.

Well now, thanks to the power of open banking, that is a thing of the past. 

With just a few clicks, the charity can access a clear picture of a client’s finances.

Using faster and better-quality information to help them go from drowning in despair to a plan to decrease their debt. 

From struggling, to stability, to shaping their local economy. My visit showed me how innovation can kickstart a virtuous cycle that benefits everyone. 

Because unless people are financially resilient, with access to the products and services they need, they can’t contribute fully to our economy and its growth.

Strategy

So, I really welcome the Government’s proposals to develop a National Financial Inclusion Strategy. 

Particularly because we know that financial inclusion spans broad social issues from education to poverty to digital connectivity.

Areas where the Government can rightly lead a coordinated, coherent, and collaborative approach to this national challenge. 

And it’s a challenge we shouldn’t underestimate. 

Around 14 million adults in the UK have less than £100 in savings. That’s roughly 25% of UK adults vulnerable to even a small financial shock.

As regulators, we don’t have the direct tools to increase incomes and put more money in people’s pockets.

But through things like the Consumer Duty and our Innovation Hub, we do have levers that, in partnership with others, can make a difference.

And consumer resilience will be a key focus in our next 5-year strategy too, which we outlined on Tuesday.  

By enhancing market integrity, protecting consumers, and promoting competition in financial markets, we can ensure wider access, better quality and less costly products and services. 

And through our new secondary growth objective, we see further potential to support the increased investment, innovation and job creation that can boost financial inclusion.”

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