While access to credit is important, surely financial inclusion should also focus on enabling poor households to accumulate assets, transact efficiently and insure against the normal risks associated with everyday life. South Africa will continue to take steps to promote financial inclusion but we will not tolerate unhealthy lending practices or excessive risk-taking in the financial sector.
The second policy challenge that African Bank has brought to the fore is the degree to which the financial sector and the banking system in particular is interconnected and interdependent. This is a difficult balance to strike because, from an individual bank or company perspective, inter-dependencies reduce risk. However, from a system perspective, interdependencies increase risk.