ABSTRACT
Financial exclusion is commonly referred to as the condition of no or limited access of low-income working-age adults to mainstream financial services that are appropriate to their needs. Consequently, financial exclusion represents an important issue both in developing and economically advanced countries (EACs) countries. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in fact represent 99" of the European non-financial enterprises and a good part of the aggregated production and jobs creation. Financial inclusion would also contribute to the general welfare through the reduction of an informal financial services market and therefore also of the risks of money-laundering and financing terrorism. Microfinance has received the endorsement of powerful international organizations and been seen as a good response not only to financial exclusion but also to poverty and people's lack of freedom. Recent scandals in the microfinance sector related to abusive collection practices and other consumers' rights violations highlight that microfinance itself is not able to solve all the financial sector's problems.
