Financial services are fundamental to economic growth and development. Explain.

Financial services are fundamental to economic growth and development. Banking, savings and investment, insurance, and debt and equity financing help private citizens save money, guard against uncertainty, and build credit, while enabling businesses to start up, expand, increase efficiency, and compete in local and international markets. For the poor, these services reduce vulnerability and enable people to manage the assets available to them in ways that generate income and employment. The financial services sector is the largest in the world in terms of earnings, comprised of a wide range of businesses including merchant banks, credit card companies, stock brokerages, and insurance companies. These large firms have the expertise, reputation, and geographic reach to have significant direct impact to change the way entire markets operate. They are also developing initiatives to build human and institutional capacity. Almost all multinational banks now have microfinance initiatives. Another challenge is to expand the focus from micro finance to meso-finance.