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A report – A Strategy for Financial Inclusion – has been prepared for the Minister for Finance by the Financial Inclusion Steering Group set up by the Department of Finance in 2010. This report has now been published for consultation purposes on the Department of Finance website where responses from interested parties are now invited. The consultation process runs until July 29th 2011.

Two of the key elements of the report are the introduction of a Basic Payment Account for those that do not currently have access to regular bank accounts and the Department of Social Protection’s strategy to move to 100% electronic payments for social welfare benefits.

Financial inclusion is a core priority (along with cash reduction and cheque elimination) of the National Payments Implementation Programme which was established to deliver a more efficient and cost effective payments environment in Ireland.

According to the Department of Finance, levels of financial exclusion are markedly higher in Ireland than in the majority of the EU15 countries. The most recent European Union Survey on Income & Living Conditions (EU SILC) estimated that approximately 17% of Irish people currently live in households that do not have access to a transaction banking account (the standard metric for financial exclusion) compared to 2.1% or less in 11 of the EU15 countries.

The proposed strategy for financial inclusion follows from a commitment made to the European Commission by the Irish authorities in 2010 as part of the bank restructuring plan process that a review would be undertaken of the options available to achieve financial inclusion in Ireland, drawing on best practice and that a Basic Payment Account would be provided in the context of the implementation of the review.

The objective of the review is to develop a strategy identifying the recommended actions to achieve a substantial reduction in financial exclusion over a three to five year period.

IPSO’s Head of Strategic Development, Russell Burke was a member of the Steering Group.

A copy of the report and more information on the consultation process are available on the Department of Finance website.