A key objective is to promote inclusive financial systems that serve more than just the top of a nation’s economic pyramid, particularly unbanked and underbanked low-income households and family businesses.

Encompassing the fields of microfinance and retail banking, the Financial Sector Program comprises:

  • graduate degree courses,
  • executive education,
  • applied policy research,
  • overseas advisory activities, and
  • internship opportunities.

FSP explores such issues as the relationship between financial sector development and economic growth; the appropriate role of government in the financial sector; bank closures and systemic risk; creation of a regulatory environment that fosters entrepreneurship among banks and their borrowers; financial exclusion; financial intermediation for the poor; and the impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation.