SMMEs

Recently, formal institutions and services have begun to emerge in townships, usually through mall-style retail spaces.This has included many financial sector institutions.In doing so, it was expected that the close proximity of banks would lead to an uptake of financial services from the unbanked population based in informal settlements with close proximity to townships. However, the available evidence suggests that this has not occurred, and a number of regulatory barriers have been identified as rendering the use of formal institutions prohibitive for the poor.