The Impact of Financial Products and Services on Quality of Life: Executive Summary and Findings

NCIF undertook this research with three primary goals:

1. To make the case that the increased availability of financial products and services may relate positively with an increase in the quality of life in their markets.
2. To enhance the NCIF suite of Social Performance Metrics based on the findings generated — adding ways to track and compare the performance of financial institutions.
3. To create a Social Return Index as a comprehensive way to quantify the social returns of financial institutions — adding to the understanding of finance theory. The Index aims to provide information to encourage additional investment into impactful institutions.

Each of the goals is considered in more depth, accompanied by an introduction to the findings.