Many of the banks have in any case also increased their provisions for bad and doubtful debts, which amounted to 2.7% of loans and advances at the end of June 1999. The banks in South Africa are well capitalised.
Several initiatives in Kenya for financial inclusion include: •  introduction of mobile phone financial services,  •  introduction of the Agency Banking Model and Currency Centres to lower the cost of doing business for banks,  •  licensing of microfinance banks, which target lower-income segments, and expanding institutional branch network countrywide,  •  allowing banks to introduce Shariah compliant (or participatory) banking products, and  •  the Credit Information Sharing mechanism to build Information Capital to solve information asymmetry problems in the financial sector.