An important sector for success

A broad range of banking and financial services help socio-economic development progress. While these services are readily available to the rich and in wealthy communities, they are not universally accessible, and the poor at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid are not well served at all.

In fact, the mainstream banking and financial service companies have either retreated from service to the poorer segments or society, or have increased the pricing of services that are used by poorer people. To add insult to injury interest rates are high and fees are also high making the total cost of service more like loan sharking than mainstream banking.

Community needs

In the last four decades rural banking has stagnated and in many places has disappeared. Perhaps for the last 25 years there has been some growth in microfinance, but this is a very limited subset of banking and arguable not an important subset. The growth of micro finance is progress, but it is not the single silver bullet that is going to solve all the socio-economic development problems of the south. In any community, there is a need for at least three main financing components: (1) micro finance that serves the individual and micro-business; (2) mini finance to satisfy the needs of the small and medium sized businesses; and, (3) muni finance that provides financing for economically desirable community projects.

Commercial banking for enterprise

The Commercial Bank sector in Haiti either through national banks or in association international banks has the ability to provide a full range of financial services to major business enterprises. The challenge is to expand the service to included smaller businesses and those that have the potential to grow, but not the financial strength to grow. Informal systems for financial services

Where the formal commercial banking and financial services sector is weak, a range of informal systems for financial services are available. These systems are very important to the local economy, especially the informal sector and the small business. Some of the informal systems, however, while providing a needed service, also exploit the poor in a very aggressive manner. Public finance

The mainstream banking sector should be in a position to assist with the financing of the public sector and be available to make funds more easily available in areas distant from Baghdad.