To support disadvantaged groups, over 150 countries have pension insurance institutions, and half of all the countries in the world have established policy medical insurance institutions. Furthermore, many countries have student loan schemes in various forms, which have played an important role in promoting economic development and social stability. Second, a legal system governing finance for the disadvantaged.
Most countries regulate financial institutions through a fully-fledged legal framework, and strictly separate financial legislations and regulations into those regulating commercial finance and those targeting policy and cooperative finance, so that the latter group of financial institutions has their own laws and are free from intervention. Thus, they are able to serve agriculture, rural areas, disadvantaged industrial sectors and groups better.