Task Force on Access to Financial Services

A very large proportion of households and firms in developing countries lack access to financial services. To help address this problem, CGD senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez convened, together with Stijn Claessens and Patrick Honohan, a task force of leading experts to identify 10 policy principles for expanding access to financial services. The principles are intended to guide the work of financial sector policy makers—national authorities, donors, private sector participants, international financial institutions, and others—on the facilitation, regulation, and direct provision of financial services.

The Task Force Report was released in September 2009. This report has received international recognition from institutions such as the G-20 and the IMF and personalities like Princess Maxima from The Netherlands.

Task Force Members

Charles Calomiris
Professor, 
Columbia University

Stijn Claessens (Cochair)
Assistant Director, Research Department, 
International Monetary Fund

Augusto de la Torre
Chief Economist, Latin America and Caribbean Region, 
The World Bank

Aslı Demirgűç-Kunt
Senior Research Manager, 
Finance and Private Sector Development, 
The World Bank

Patrick Honohan (Cochair)
Professor, Trinity College Dublin

Ishrat Husain
Former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan

Elaine Kempson
Director, Personal Finance Research Centre and Professorial Research Fellow, University of Bristol

Robert Litan
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and Vice President, Research and Policy, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Nachiket Mor
President, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth

Jonathan Morduch
Professor, New York University

Marco Pagano
Professor, University of Naples Federico II and President, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance

David Porteous
Director, Bankable Frontier Associates

Andrew Powell
Lead Research Economist, Research Department, Inter-American Development Bank

Elisabeth Rhyne
Managing Director, Center for Financial Inclusion, Accion International

Liliana Rojas-Suarez (Cochair)
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development

David Roodman
Research Fellow, Center for Global Development

Finance