The first step toward improving the system is to change how we talk about it. Framing the problem as “banked versus unbanked” has helped spotlight problems of financial exclusion, but it has also placed a value judgment on some people’s financial decisions without understanding their situations, implying that the un- and underbanked are somehow deficient. This understanding of the problem also tacitly affirms that banks are the good guys. They’re not. This paradigm has outlived its useful life. It’s time to move on.
