Description
Past scholarship on financial inclusion tends to focus on access to credit, but new research also engages with transformations in how payments are made and settled in the banking system. I contribute to this emergent stream of scholarship which engages with the technological aspects of financial access to show how common ground between debates in advanced capitalist countries and poor countries has expanded. This is because of shifts in how financial exclusion — and inclusion — is conceptualised, and is reflected in the debates around blockchain technology to enhance financial access; such as those around Facebook’s Libra, but also other claims about the inclusive potential of cryptocurrencies. I place these discussions in the context of inclusive finance in Pakistan, where privatised payment systems are viewed as a policy tool to enhance financial access. Through an analysis of documents from the State Bank of Pakistan, the Bank of International Settlements, and the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Community Affairs, I consider the scope for a financial system in which payments technology is widespread and publicly owned. My key findings draw attention to the tension between transparency and access to finance.
