Formal financial services in rural areas have long been underdeveloped. This is due to a combination of factors – dispersed clients, low levels of financial literacy among rural households, the high cost of delivering services (especially low-value transactions), and the perceived high repayment risk associated with lending to agri-dependent households, which make up the majority of households in rural areas.
Besides a few cases in South and Southeast Asia, where in some places, rural population densities are high and supportive government policies and investments helped improve prospects for rural financial intermediation, most rural financial institutions in other developing regions over the last thirty to forty years have struggled to achieve scale and strong profitability, and to deliver a complete suite of financial services.