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Towards an Ecology of Retail Financial Services: Understanding the Persistence of Door-to-Door Credit and Insurance Providers

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Leyshon

    (School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England)

  • Dawn Burton

    (Leeds Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, England)

  • David Knights
  • Catrina Alferoff
  • Paola Signoretta

    (School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England)

Abstract

In this paper we explore the relationship between knowledge, trust, and space in the production and consumption of retail financial services as part of a wider enquiry into processes of financial exclusion. We argue that the relationship between knowledge and trust helps to explain the evolution of financial services and the production over time of distinctive ecologies of financial service production and use. We discuss the changing scales of financial knowledge and trust in relation to the evolution of the UK financial services industry. We identify two idealised ecologies and networks of retail financial services. The middle-class suburb represents an ecology and network of privilege within the contemporary retail financial services market. It displays relatively high levels of aggregate knowledge about the financial system and constitutes an important part of the retail financial services network, with strong and frequent connections to the financial services industry as a whole. Poor inner-city areas and peripheral local authority housing estates, meanwhile, have very different financial ecologies. Areas of relative deprivation and poverty, they constitute ‘relic’ financial ecologies that have been bypassed and mostly ignored by the mainstream financial services industry. They are colonised by a distinctive set of financial institutions that include firms that operate door-to-door. We look at the formation and evolution of these ecologies over time and discuss the potential of enriching the ecology of the poor inner-city and peripheral local authority housing estate through public policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Leyshon & Dawn Burton & David Knights & Catrina Alferoff & Paola Signoretta, 2004. "Towards an Ecology of Retail Financial Services: Understanding the Persistence of Door-to-Door Credit and Insurance Providers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(4), pages 625-645, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:36:y:2004:i:4:p:625-645
    DOI: 10.1068/a3677
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    2. Jan Myers & Molly Scott Cato & Paul A. Jones, 2012. "An ‘alternative mainstream’? The impact of financial inclusion policy on credit unions in Wales," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 409-416, November.
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    5. Thomas Wainwright, 2011. "Elite Knowledges: Framing Risk and the Geographies of Credit," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(3), pages 650-665, March.
    6. Cristina Bernad & Lucio Fuentelsaz & Jaime Gómez, 2008. "Deregulation and its Long-Run Effects on the Availability of Banking Services in Low-Income Communities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(7), pages 1681-1696, July.
    7. Reijer Hendrikse & Michiel van Meeteren & David Bassens, 2020. "Strategic coupling between finance, technology and the state: Cultivating a Fintech ecosystem for incumbent finance," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(8), pages 1516-1538, November.
    8. Sarah Hall & Andrew Leyshon, 2013. "Editorial: Financialization, Space and Place," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 831-833, June.
    9. Melissa Heil, 2022. "Debtor spaces: Austerity, space, and dispossession in Michigan’s emergency management system," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(5), pages 966-983, August.
    10. Léna Pellandini-Simányi & Adam Banai, 2021. "Reluctant financialisaton: Financialisaton without financialised subjectivities in Hungary and the United States," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(4), pages 785-808, June.
    11. Paul Langley & Andrew Leyshon, 2017. "Capitalizing on the crowd: The monetary and financial ecologies of crowdfunding," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(5), pages 1019-1039, May.
    12. Sarah Hall, 2016. "Liquidity Lost," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 105-107, February.
    13. Dawn Burton, 2012. "Credit Scoring, Risk, and Consumer Lendingscapes in Emerging Markets," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(1), pages 111-124, January.
    14. Kevin Keasey & Gianluca Veronesi, 2012. "The Significance and Implications of Being a Subprime Homeowner in the UK," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(6), pages 1502-1522, June.
    15. Ibrahim, Fatma & McHugh, Neil & Biosca, Olga & Baker, Rachel & Laxton, Tim & Donaldson, Cam, 2021. "Microcredit as a public health initiative? Exploring mechanisms and pathways to health and wellbeing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    16. Gordon L Clark & Janelle Knox-Hayes & Kendra Strauss, 2009. "Financial Sophistication, Salience, and the Scale of Deliberation in UK Retirement Planning," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(10), pages 2496-2515, October.
    17. Hugh Morris, 2012. "Financial Exclusion and Australian Domestic General Insurance: The Impact of Financial Services Reforms," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 3-2012, January-A.
    18. Molly Scott Cato & Jan Myers & Steven Howlett, 2013. "At the sharp end of the credit crisis: A profile of Valleys Credit Union," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(6), pages 539-552, September.
    19. Ossandón, José, 2012. "Destapando la Caja Negra: Sociologías de los Créditos de Consumo en Chile [Opening up the black box: sociologies of consumer credits in Chile]," MPRA Paper 42181, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Stefanos Ioannou & Dariusz Wójcik, 2021. "Finance and growth nexus: An international analysis across cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(1), pages 223-242, January.
    21. French, Declan & McKillop, Donal & Sharma, Tripti, 2018. "What determines UK housing equity withdrawal in later life?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 143-154.

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