Consumer Protection Leveling the playing field in financial inclusion

Consumer protection seeks to level the playing field between suppliers and consumers of financial services. Retail customers have less information about their financial transactions than do the financial institutions providing the services, which can result in excessively high interest rates paid, lack of understanding about financial options, and insufficient avenues for redress. Such an information imbalance is greatest when customers are less experienced and products are more sophisticated. Efforts to expand financial inclusion by reaching ‘unbanked’ customers encourage tens of thousands of these new customers to enter the market annually.