In response to the U.S. Treasury’s Request for Information (“RFI”) on creating a national strategy on financial inclusion, The Clearing House Association (TCH) participated in a Treasury-hosted roundtable discussion and submitted written comments drawing from TCH’s 2021 whitepaper Delivering Financial Products and Services to the Unbanked and Underbanked in the United States – Challenges and Opportunities.  The Treasury RFI solicited input on how to define financial inclusion, identify barriers to it, measure it, and actions that the private and public sector could take to promote financial inclusion.  TCH emphasized the importance of increasing consumer use of bank deposit accounts to consumers, as these provide consumers with the greatest protections and access to the most ubiquitous payment rails.  TCH also supported the success of the industry-led “Bank On” program in providing low-cost deposit accounts with low minimum balance requirements, low predictable fees, and other protections, while recommending that public sector efforts address consumer identity authentication and broadband internet access.

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