In emerging economies across the world, millions of people in rural areas lack basic financial services. In 2008, Barclays forged a partnership with leading international development agencies CARE International and Plan International, and management consultant Accenture, to address access to basic savings and loans products.

The initiative, to which Barclays has committed to investing £10m over three years, will enable 500,000 poor and vulnerable people in developing countries to access community-based financial services such as village savings and loans associations.

The new collaborative programme was announced in September 2008 by former US President Bill Clinton and Barclays Americas Chairman Archie Cox at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. Building on Barclays deep experience in the community investment and financial inclusion arena, including the Katine project in Uganda, the initiative will improve and expand existing traditional financial structures utilised by unbanked communities - a highly cost-effective way to reach a large number of people at a cost of about £20 per individual. The partnership focuses on three core objectives:

• Outreach - providing direct access to savings-led community-based, community-managed financial services for up to 500,000 people in a number of developing countries in Africa, South East Asia or South America
• Impact - achieving a tangible social and economic impact on the individuals and communities involved via improvement such as increased income, more sustainable livelihoods, improved health, and access to education
• Inclusion - promoting financial inclusion by helping to integrate individuals into the formal financial sector, for example by ‘graduating’ customers from informal to formal financial services, and linking community-led micro-finance groups to Barclays services.