Article at a glance:

Extending financial services to Latin America's poor

• In the past few years, Latin America has enjoyed considerable economic success, but conditions for the majority of the region’s citizens have not improved substantially.
• Despite remarkable accomplishments at the macro level, Latin American leaders have often neglected the micro dimension of development. Financial markets have an important role to play here.
• Financial development empowers individuals to achieve their full potential as producers, savers, investors, and consumers.
• Building well-functioning financial and banking markets that could promote greater “financial democracy” should be a policy priority for governments and development finance institutions alike.

Note: This article includes translations in Portuguese and Spanish.