The Impact of Financial Products and Services on Quality of Life

The working paper explores NCIF’s theory of change and attempts to quantify whether the availability of financial products and services has a correlation with changes in quality of life and economic activity in these markets. We realized this is a very ambitious undertaking, yet we pursued it to explore the data and move the needle forward to support the MOFI industry. We are pleased to find that, while additional research is needed, there is valuable information that can be used by various stakeholders to support financial institutions through additional investment and public policy changes — especially those working in underserved markets — such as the certified CDFI banks, minority banks, and MOFIs in general.