Promoting Indigenous Financial Inclusion: Improving ICT Access Within Rural Australia

ThisarticledescribeshowthemajorityofAustralia’sindigenouscommunitieslivewithinisolated regionsandaretypicallycharacterizedbylevelsofdisadvantagenotevidencedwithinmainstream Australiansociety.Whilethereareanumberofreasonsfortheevidenceddisadvantages,accessto financialservicesandsocialservicesareacknowledgedaskeycontributors.Thearticleoutlinesthe roleofbankingsectorcompetitionandchangingbankingstructuresontheexclusionofindigenous peoplefrombankingservices.Itisclaimedhereinthataccess,marketing,price,andself-exclusionall servetopromotefinancialexclusion.Itispositedthatformsofaccessexclusionsuchasbankbranch accessandgeographicdispersionhaveservedasthekeystructuralimpedimentstoindigenousfinancial inclusion.Specifically,thisarticleconsidersthepotentialroleofadaptivecellulartechnologiesand communitytelecentresinaddressingfinancialexclusionwithinindigenouscommunities.Detailing successful ‘social banking’ models adopted in several developing countries, it is asserted that m-bankingcouldserveasapowerfultoolforinclusion. KeyWoRdS Manufacturing Industry, Partner Firms, Strategy and Policy, Supply Chain Management