For the first time, people who were trapped in the informal economy can steer clear of usurious local moneylenders, save precious time and money, and benefit from the basic financial services that you and I take for granted.
There is nothing wrong, for example, with trying to extend basic financial services (bank accounts and micro-financing solutions) to all people including the poorest.
Skills for the future Mr. Lake also met with the young staff of the centre's bank, an innovative programme that offers basic financial services to children, and teaches them essential life skills in the process.
The programme aimed to reach around 400,000 people but has exceeded that target; so far, it has provided basic financial services to 490,000 people and facilitated the creation of more than 21,000 groups.
Part of the disadvantaged and low-income segments of global population is left without (i.e. financially excluded) or very limited access (i.e. financially underserved) to basic financial services, creating a highly critical equality deficit in different parts of the world.
Though, access to basic financial services, such as saving, credit and insurance do not necessarily allow people to move swiftly out of poverty, they do provide tools with which to manage risk and avoid the downward spirals that can occur when disaster strikes and that in itself is a reason why such services should be available to all who wish to use them.
Earlier this year, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) issued a report arguing that USPS could offer banking services, including bill paying, check cashing and small loans to those 68 million Americans who have limited or no access to basic financial services, including short-term loans and possibly debit cards.
There is especially strong and resilient demand for the most basic financial services, which in turn has driven tremendous growth and investment in the microfinance space in recent years.
According to the new poll, 44percentt of Americans said they would favor the Postal Service offering basic financial services like bill-paying, check-cashing and small loans.
