Financial exclusion in OECD countries: A scoping review*

Abstract

This scoping review assesses the state of scholarly literature on financial exclusion in OECD member countries to identify key concepts, gaps in the research, and types and sources of evidence to inform an agenda for advancing research, practice, and policy. The authors searched eight databases using 13 terms. The researchers extracted data for five concepts: financial inclusion conceptualization, financial inclusion measurement, financial inclusion mechanisms, financial exclusion conceptual, descriptive or empirical content, and financial capability conceptualization or measurement. This article reports on data coded only for financial exclusion conceptual, descriptive, or empirical content. The researchers identified N = 148 studies for inclusion. The majority of the studies were conceptual and were focused on either the USA or the UK. Aspects of financial exclusion that were well covered in the literature include the conceptualization, contributors, and impacts of financial exclusion. Less covered were measurement, prevention, and contemporary practice trends in financial exclusion.

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“…Financial inclusion is not only a concern of financial institutions that are trying to attract more and more categories of consumers and have a responsible attitude towards them but also of public authorities [33,[37][38][39][40][41][42]. In fact, there are specialists who consider financial inclusion, for some countries, even a catalyst for sustainable development, a tool for poverty reduction and a facilitator of economic growth [27,[43][44][45]. Financial inclusion is a complex concept in a continuous evolution taking into account the transformations that are taking place worldwide from an economic, social and political point of view.…”

“…After the emergence of the concept of social exclusion, the 90s were characterized by intense scientific concerns regarding citizens' access to financial services for payment, savings, and credit, but also to insurance services. Subsequently, the European Commission focused on this issue, considering that financial exclusion is a component of the phenomenon of social exclusion that affects, in various forms, important categories of citizens of the European Union [45]. Financial exclusion targets people that "encounter difficulties accessing and/or using financial services and products in the mainstream market that are appropriate to their needs and enable them to lead a normal social life in the society in which they belong."…”

“…Financial exclusion targets people that "encounter difficulties accessing and/or using financial services and products in the mainstream market that are appropriate to their needs and enable them to lead a normal social life in the society in which they belong." It must be highlighted that the phenomenon of financial exclusion affects both developed and developing countries, but the share of the non-banked population is different across the world, depending on the level of development of that country [45].…”

“…As the financial inclusion is a multidimensional concept [47], various categories of stakeholders from supply and demand sides must be involved. Public authorities and financial institutions must offer sustainable alternatives to consumers, and citizens must make efforts to increase the degree of financial education by participating in programs conducted in this regard by various entities [45,[54][55][56][57][58]. Given the multiple crises and scandals that have particularly affected the banking market, financial institutions need to substantially improve their behaviour so as to inspire consumer confidence.…”

“…Therefore, consumers are also required to use the proper financial services according to their ability to understand financial phenomena or income level [59,60]. In addition, in certain particular situations, such as immigrants, financial consumers have to overcome certain language, cultural, and religious barriers [45,48,61]. Consumers must not only show responsibility when making financial decisions but must also have the ability to learn and adapt to the new conditions of the financial market generated by the digitization of operations.…”