UN Blue book
As part of the UN Year of Micro Credit (YOM), the UN’s Capital Development Fund and the Financing for Development Office of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs will be bringing out a “Blue Book on Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development”. The target publication date in September 2005. As a result, stakeholder consultations are happening around the world, using open questionnaires and dialogue processes. Around the core question, “Why are so many bankable clients unbanked?”, the Blue Book questionnaires ask for views of the main constraints and what can be done to alleviate them.
I expect that many of the constraints to be highlighted will be the usual suspects, such as: lack of financial infrastructure, regulatory barriers, etc. Perhaps a more interesting aspect of the Blue Book process will be the extent to which a cohesive future vision or visions of the inclusive financial sector can be generated. Only two things are for certain: inclusive financial sectors will be generated by competition for clients among providers; and competition, from a provider’s perspective is messy and dangerous—firms fail, after all. As microfinance integrates into the mainstream, the cosy niche enjoyed by some providers is likely to disappear, and that harsh reality may challenge the cohesiveness of the vision/s to be set forth. But I await the release of the Blue Book with interest.
