Some 60m adult Americans live without a bank account or use pawn shops and other non-bank operations to handle their finances, according to to a government reportthat called for an expansion of basic services to the “underbanked”.
The report, issued on Wednesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a banking regulator, could increase political pressure on banks to do more for their communities after unprecedented government efforts to bail out the sector.
“[There is] an imperative for government and industry to expand financial access to the substantial number of households that have never been banked,” the report concluded. Sheila Bair, FDIC chairman, said financial groups should offer tailored products to the underbanked.
The study, the first of its kind, lifts the lid on the vast banking underclass in the US, a country that prides itself on the sophistication of its banking sector.
The FDIC found that some 17m US adults are in households without any bank accounts. Another 43m had accounts but were “underbanked”, relying on non-bank services such as pay-day lenders and pawn shops.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Millions in US lack bank access
I caught this before work this morning in the Financial Times...
For far too many Georgians our social safety net is a day to day necessity. When our citizens fail to be able to access fundamental items like a bank account they can never reach a point in their life where they can flourish--providing for themselves and their families.
The purpose of government is to protect and empower its citizens. This is a key value that my opponent and I differ on. Steve Davis has consistently failed to protect our most vulnerable citizens--wasting lives and creating long term dependency on social safety nets waiting taxpayer dollars.
If we do not intereve in these kinds of situations like these we are failing to protect our must vulnerable citizens and provide them with the tools like need to lead healthy, productive, lives.
One of the biggest reasons I decided to run for office was that I want to empower citizens not career politicians.
Please stand with me so that we can put an end to broken government and the career politicians that create it.
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