This text is concerned with the increasingly important and problematic area of financial exclusion, broadly defined as the inability and/or reluctance of particular societal groups to access mainstream financial services. There is growing evidence that deregulation in developed financial sectors improves financial inclusion for some societal groups, but may at the same time exacerbate it for others. In developing countries access to financial services is typically limited and therefore providing wider access to such services can aid financial and economic development.