Corporate Governance and Access to Finance - ESBG

FOREWORDI am pleased to present the findings of the “Corporate Governance andAccess to Finance” study, released by the World Savings Banks Institutein collaboration with the consultancy AFI (Analistas FinancierosInternacionales).Can adequate corporate governance increase access to financial services?While the answer is not straightforward, the following study reveals thatcountries with better standards of corporate governance tend to havehigher levels of financial inclusion and deeper banking market penetration.Moreover, corporate governance elements controlled by the institution havefar greater positive influence on financial access efforts than do externalcorporate governance elements, such as national legal frameworks.Interestingly, a clear reference to access to finance in the institution’s missionstatement is one of the internal elements that have the greatest positiveinfluence, as it helps institutions adhere to their inclusive finance policies.In the debate over how to increase financial services access to the maximumnumber of people, corporate governance is much more relevant than,say, the questions of institution ownership. WSBI is encouraged by thesefindings, for who is better positioned than savings banks to put highstandards of corporate governance to work for the benefit of those inneed of financial access?Chris De NooseWSBI-ESBG Managing Director7