The limited access to finance remains a key constraint on growth across the region, limiting the scope for smaller, less well-established firms to finance investment through the formal banking system. How to improve access and increase the level of financial intermediation remains a key policy challenge. One possible explanation for the high level of financial exclusion lies in the lack of competition within the banking system; economic literature typically associates higher levels of bank competition with increased access to a wider range of financial services, at lower cost, with greater efficiency in production and delivery of these services. The.
