The ultimate form of financial exclusion is not having access to a bank account. Now for many of us, this may seem a strange comment because surely everyone has a bank account? However, across the UK there are 1.1 million people who don’t (around 160,000 in Scotland). This includes bankrupt people, refugees, ex-prisoners, homeless people and victim-survivors of domestic violence.

If you don’t have a bank account, everyday tasks become impossible. You can’t receive wages or benefit payments. You can’t get a private tenancy agreement. Bills are more expensive as you can’t take advantage of cheaper deals offered to those who pay by direct debit. It’s also harder to access affordable credit as lenders often rely on payments being made into or from a bank account.

And these problems are not just limited to the........

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