Markets Wired

As Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon. Let me start by thanking you for your continued work promoting financial literacy and education and for being part of today’s Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC) meeting.

The FLEC provides a crucial forum to coordinate the government’s efforts to help consumers make informed, sound decisions that enhance their financial well-being. And today we are pleased to focus our discussion on a key recent effort: the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) National Strategy for Financial Inclusion in the United States, which we published at the end of October. 

The Strategy is based on extensive research and stakeholder engagement across the public, private, and non-profit sectors, including with many of you. And it’s part of Treasury’s and the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader focus on reaching people and places that have been underserved in order to advance a more inclusive financial system and strengthen our economy. When families lack access to financial services or affordable credit, they are less able to weather economic shocks or invest in their futures. And this creates friction in our economy. 

The Strategy is designed to address these issues head-on—setting out a plan to make our financial system more inclusive and our economy more dynamic and resilient. And it importantly focuses not just on increasing access to the financial system but also on leveraging that access to drive better consumer outcomes like increased financial resilience, well-being, and wealth. 

The Strategy emphasizes the need for unbiased, clear, and relevant financial information to equip consumers to make informed financial decisions. And it puts forward five key objectives: promote access to transaction accounts; increase access to safe and affordable credit; increase retirement and emergency savings opportunities; improve government financial services; and strengthen consumer protections. 

I know that many of you are already doing important work to further financial inclusion. Federal partners in the FLEC, for example, are investing in faster payments, better consumer protections, and improved financial education. Others listening today are providing valuable feedback on their communities’ needs and working with financial service providers to remove barriers to access. 

Successful implementation of the Strategy will depend on continued strong interagency collaboration, strategic public-private partnerships, and trusted community partners. 

We saw powerful examples of interagency collaboration during the pandemic, such as the partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to help consumers without bank accounts identify and open accounts. The unbanked rate fell to 4.5 percent, the lowest in decades.

Many of these new accounts were Bank On accounts, low-cost accounts with reduced overdraft fees, demonstrating the potential of public-private partnerships to expand access. 

And let me emphasize that community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions are key examples of community partners that have earned the trust of underserved communities, with strong track records of facilitating financial inclusion, building wealth, and ensuring that community leaders and those they represent are heard. Our continued support of community financial infrastructure is critical. 

As we look ahead, I call on my fellow federal agencies and other partners attending today to build on our work to date and take concrete additional steps: to review existing programs and products for opportunities to enhance financial inclusion; to strengthen partnerships; and to share best practices. We can together build a financial system that serves all Americans and fuels innovation and economic growth. 

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