inquiries, we were drawn toward the experiences of Australia, Canada, and
South African. The South African’s Standard Bank has been quite innovative in using
new technologies to reduce cost of providing banking services to the urban poor who
were formerly thought of as un-bankable. Similarly, the Canadian Financial Services
Taskforce put much emphasis on “ensuring highest standard of quality and services to
consumers, regardless of their income, and regardless of where they live; urban or rural,
and also to individual businesses, whether they are large or small”