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Taking the credit - How financial services liberalisation fails the poor

This report assesses the role that UK, European and US banks play in developing countries, especially following trade deals which locked-in financial services liberalisation. It shows how the loan practices of big foreign banks in India and Mexico were reducing access to credit for small firms or poor households, and shifting credit away from ‘productive activities’ towards funding personal consumption for wealthier people. The report calls upon European leaders to change their approach to trade policy and stop demanding greater financial services liberalisation from developing countries.