Innovation in Financial Inclusion

AI is moving faster than ever, reshaping how financial services are used and provided. In this episode, I speak with Prof. Richard Whittle (Salford Business School) and Jos Henson Grič (Flexperts) to unpack the latest developments and discuss the key trends, risks, and opportunities for the financial inclusion sector.

The UK’s community debt advisers are overwhelmed as millions of households fall behind on bills. Outdated, paper‑heavy processes make it even harder to keep up. In this episode, I sit down with Muna Yassin (Rooted Finance) and Maysam Rizvi (Elifinty) to discuss how AI could modernise the debt advice journey and help more people get the support they need.

Almost half of UK adults are considered vulnerable in financial markets—putting them at heightened risk of harm. In this episode, I’m joined by Tim Rooney, CEO of Salad, to explore how the social lender is harnessing Artificial Intelligence to spot signs of vulnerability and better support its customers.

There is a large protection gap and 26% of people in financially vulnerable circumstances do not hold a single insurance or protection product. In this episode I am joined by Jake Attfield to discuss new research from Fair4All Finance on the potential to use AI to improve access to insurance for financially excluded consumers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how financial services are delivered, accessed and consumed. In this episode, I am joined by Moonga Chinika (OECD and Bank of Zambia) to discuss what is AI and its potential to promote greater financial inclusion

I am joined by Theodora Hadjimichael from Responsible Finance and Kay Polley from the Finance Innovation Lab to discuss how policymakers and regulators can encourage the UK mainstream financial sector to play a greater role in promoting financial inclusion. We discuss policy tools to support the growth of regional financial institutions, requiring banks to provide services to financially vulnerable consumers, and compelling banks to provide greater support for community-based financial institutions.

Underpinned by government guarantees and regulation, French banks provide significant support for microfinance providers in the form of loans, equity, subsidies and staff secondments. In this episode, I am joined by Laure Coussirat Coustere, from leading French microfinance provider Adie, and Alexandre Nayme, from major microfinance investor BNP Paribas, to dissect the scale, impact and drivers of this support and what we can implement in a UK context.

The German model of regional banks has been credited with providing better local access to financial services, maybe especially for small businesses. German regulation compartmentalises the financial system enabling regional financial institutions to operate (and not be outcompeted by large international banks). In this episode, I explore how financial systems can preserve local banks and what this means for community access to finance with Dr Franz Flögel from the Institute for Work and Technology

With origins in the civil rights movement and evidence about redlining of communities of colour, the Community Reinvestment Act requires banks to serve low and moderate-income communities. As banks can fulfil their obligations under CRA by funding community-based lenders, the act has significantly increased bank funding of CDFIs. In this episode, I discuss the impact of the CRA on the CDFI sector and key lessons for the UK with Mark Pinsky (CDFI Friendly America), Joan Broadhead (Community First Fund) and Yanki Tshering (Accompany Capital)

In many if not most Developed economies, mainstream financial institutions are expected to promote financial inclusion by serving vulnerable groups and supporting alternative community-based service provision. In this episode, I am joined by Prof Karl Dayson (University of Lincoln) to discuss societal expectations of banks and the roots of these expectations

Trailer for the third series of the Innovation in Financial Inclusion podcast, in which I will be exploring how we can create a more inclusive financial system and what we can learn from other countries, such as the US, Germany and France.

In the final episode Pål takes stock of financial education in the UK and discusses what it might or should look like in the future. He is joined by Quentin Nason from City Pay it Forward.

Pål talks about community-based financial education with Kate McQueen from the Money Charity and Toynbee Hall’s Matt Dronfield. The discussion covers content and delivery, key delivery partners and how to engage local residents.

Jonathan Watts-Lay from WEALTH at work and Kayleigh Frost at Health Assured join Pål to talk about financial education delivered at people’s places of work. The discussion touches on delivery and content, challenges and innovative practice.

Pål talks about financial education aimed at children and young people with Russell Winnard from Young Enterprise and Leon Ward from MyBnk. They discuss the nature of content and delivery, learning and outcomes, key considerations and good practice.

Pål is joined by Professor Brenda J. Cude, University of Georgia, and Lisa Davis from the Money and Pensions Service to discuss what is financial education, what does it aim to achieve and what do we know about its impact.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating Food Cooperatives. To learn more about this, they spoke with Dr Celia Plender and Yolande Barnsley. Celia is a lecturer at the University of Exeter who has conducted extensive fieldwork on urban, grassroots food coops to understand their policies and responses to social and political changes taking place around them. Yolande is a Food Co-op and Women's Wellbeing Project Coordinator at St Hilda’s East Community Centre, which sells affordable fruit and veg to local residents in Shoreditch, East London.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be looking at the use of no-interest loans in financial inclusion. To learn more about this, they spoke with Chris Grover and Sheenagh Murtagh. Chris is a professor in social policy at the University of Lancaster and spoke about the use of no-interest loans in UK welfare policy. Sheenagh is the CEO of South Manchester Credit Union, which has piloted a no-interest loan scheme for low-income consumers with HM Treasury and Fair4allFinance.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating Flex My Rent which is a rent flexibility scheme that offers eligible residents the opportunity to adjust their monthly rent. To investigate this further they will be joined by Damon Gibbons, CEO of the Centre for Responsible Credit, an independent think tank working to influence and improve the provision and regulation of credit that developed Flex My Rent, & Gemma Glass, Head of Financial & Digital Inclusion at Southern Housing, one the UK’s largest housing associations which has piloted the Flex My Rent scheme in conjunction with the Centre for Responsible Credit.  

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating Opt-out savings schemes, similar to the pension auto-enrolment, under opt out savings schemes, employees are automatically enrolled into the payroll savings scheme unless they opt out. To investigate this further they will be joined by Emma Stockdale, a research lead at Nest Insight which is a public-benefit research and innovation centre that focuses on finding ways to support low- and moderate-income workers to be financially secure, & Roger Shelton, a marketing and business development manager at Transave UK, an employer-based credit union which is piloting an opt-out payroll savings scheme with SUEZ, one of its employer partners.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating the reasons why some low-income households struggle to have access to affordable credit and what ethical alternative there are for them. Andrew & Pal will be joined by Niall Alexander, markets & consumer insight manager at Fair4AllFinance, who has been closely following developments in commercial high-cost credit and affordable credit sector for many years.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating the reasons why people encounter problem debt, why they struggle to overcome it and what remedies there are out there for the overindebted. Andrew & Pal will be joined by Muna Yassin the CEO of Rooted Finance (formerly Fair Money Advice) a London based charity that provides debt advice and money advice support & Helen Webb the National External Partnerships Manager of Christians Against Poverty a charity that provides money and debt advice to tackle poverty across the UK.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating why people don’t save on a regular basis and the challenges of encouraging a regular savings habit. We will be speaking with James Kelly a relationship manager at the Money & Pensions Service an arms-length body that works to ensure that people have guidance and access to info to help them make effective financial decisions over their lifetime, including pensions guidance, debt advice and money guidance & Matt Bland who is the CEO of Coop Credit Union based in Manchester that provides loans and savings to members and employees of the Coop Group and a range of other coops.

In this episode, Andrew & Pål will be investigating how those on low incomes manage to cover their expenditure, focusing on the challenges and coping strategies used by those managing on a low income. We will be speaking with Dr David Young, a research fellow at Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies Unit at the University of Salford, whose research focuses on social security policy and the experience of income change and insecurity, & Catherine Connors, a service manager in the Welfare rights, debt advice and fairer charging service team at Salford City Council, who’ll be talking about the lived experience of her clients.

In the first of a new podcast series focusing on the problems and solutions of promoting financial inclusion in the UK. Andrew and Pål will be providing an overview of the research unit behind the podcast series Community Finance Solutions (CFS) and speak with its’ co-founders Professor Karl Dayson, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Salford to understand the origins of CFS, the problems it set out to address, the solutions it aimed to provide, and to hear his reflections on the evolution of financial exclusion and the way ahead.

Innovation in Financial Inclusion Podcast series focuses on the problems and solutions of promoting financial inclusion in the UK. The series will launch on 19th April 2023 with a new episodes releasing every 2 weeks.