and credit, containing a comprehensive summary of households ’ access to and use of credit. several of our research findings have influenced policy debates. for example, an important question regarding recent household deleveraging has been to what extent the decline in aggregate household debt was attributable to delinquent debt charge - offs as opposed to active debt paydowns by consumers. our research found that while charge - offs played an important role, a huge change in consumer behavior had taken place. while consumers extracted home equity and took on more debt during 2007, they reverted to actively paying down debt during 2009, creating a remarkable $ 480 billion reversal in cash flow available for consumption in just two years. in our most recent report we are seeing signs suggesting that the deleveraging period has reached its end. the availability of borrower - level data has been key to our ability to analyze consumer behavior. somewhat unexpectedly, it has also turned out that the ccp provides a comprehensive national picture of total outstanding student loan balances and delinquency rates that heretofore did not exist. it was in a quarterly report, for example, that we first reported that student loan debt exceeded credit card debt, in early 2010. our findings helped bring the surge in student debt and delinquencies to the attention of the public. our research also highlighted its potential implications for consumption growth, showing a strong association between the increase in student loan debt and the decline in mortgage and auto loan origination rates over the past few years. coming back to the broader issue of data innovation, it is interesting to note that dataset merges have been behind a growing number of important academic studies and research findings in recent years. while showing how the value of datasets can be greatly enhanced by linking them, these studies underscore the need for creative thinking to maintain anonymity and representativeness of the matched sample. we are currently pursuing various ways to enhance the value of the consumer credit panel further by linking to property deed records, employer payroll records, small business credit data, and student college records. the ccp shows how existing data – in this case credit reports – can be re - purposed to serve new public policy and research uses. but sometimes existing data sources just can ’ t provide the answers we need, and in those cases data innovation requires creating something completely new. survey of consumer expectations so a second important example of data innovation at the new york fed is the survey of consumer expectations, which we

kazi abdul muktadir : tackling financial exclusion in pakistan through branchless banking chief guest address by mr kazi abdul muktadir, deputy governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the branchless banking commercial launch of waseela microfinance bank limited, karachi, 12 november 2012. * * * mr. ghazanfar azzam, president & ceo of waseela mfb, mr. rashid khan, ceo mobilink distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen! assalam - o - alaikum and good morning, i am extremely delighted to join you on the occasion of this commercial launch of branchless banking by waseela mfb. i would like to congratulate the sponsors, management, and staff of waseela microfinance bank limited on this special occasion and believe that the launch of waseela will not only help in catalyzing market development especially in areas of agent development but also the use of technology would rapidly scale up mobile financial services to the vastly underserved segments of society all over pakistan. i have been told that the number of mobile phone subscribers in pakistan is around 120 million and mobilink has the largest share of over 36 million subscribers. the current tele - density is above 72 % which is much higher than the level of financial access that hovers around 12 percent. this factor alone highlights the immense potential for mobile banking in the country. the role played by the government, pta and the mobile operators for achieving this high level of penetration, especially under our existing socio - economic conditions, is highly commendable. ladies and gentlemen! there is an emerging consensus amongst policy makers around the world that mobile financial services is a safe and sound way to rapidly improve access to financial services for poor people. g - 20 leaders in their last summit held at toronto in 2011 adopted 9 principles for innovative financial inclusion that include promoting technological and institutional innovation as a means to expand formal financial system access and its usage. these principles aim to help the creation of an enabling policy and regulatory environment for innovative financial inclusion. such enabling environment will assist and determine the speed at which the financial services will be made available to the more than two billion people who are currently excluded, where access to financial services can make the difference between surviving and thriving. innovative modes of financial services delivery can have a transformative effect on poor households. we know that access to even small amounts of credit can dramatically improve the welfare of the excluded population both