financial security. 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches in addition to broad - based outreach, i would also like to emphasize the opportunity that financial education provides to advance our shared goal of financial inclusion. today, i will discuss three important aspects of the fed's inclusion efforts that helps to inform policies and practices designed to advance financial access and capability : access to a banking account ; the availability of responsible small - dollar lending products for short term financial needs ; and expanded reach of financial initiatives to indigenous and native communities to more effectively assist in providing access to the broader financial economy. we have made significant progress in providing greater access to bring the unbanked into the insured depository space. our research gives us insight into the success of recent efforts to expand access among unbanked populations. for example, the federal reserve's survey of household economics and decisionmaking ( shed ) showed in 2021 that 94 percent of adult survey respondents have a bank or credit union account, and the federal deposit insurance corporation's 2021 national survey of unbanked and underbanked households found that 95. 5 percent of all u. s. households were banked, which is the highest level since the survey began in 2009. 2 the fed's shed survey shows similar results. from 1989 to 2019, the percentage of u. s. adults with bank accounts rose from 85. 6 to 94. 5 percent. this is also true in the increased number of bank accounts owned by members of minority groups over the same time period, especially for black and hispanic consumers. black adults increased bank account ownership from 56. 7 to 86. 8 percent and hispanics increased from 63. 5 to 89. 5 percent. though these surveys show significant improvement over the past decades, there is still further progress to make. in fact, our shed survey data helps to identify characteristics of those who may choose not to use a deposit account or do not have access to one. the most recent survey results show that income and education may also play a factor - among the respondents, 24 percent of adults who have not earned a high school diploma and 17 percent of adults making less than $ 25, 000 a year did not own a deposit account. we also know that there are many factors that may lead consumers to choose not to engage in the banking system, whether from a distrust of the banking system or prior mishandling of a banking relationship being an impediment to account ownership. these broader gains in the number of consumers

my judgment, should not have been left solely to chance. we have observed that global financial markets, as currently organized, do not always achieve an appropriate equilibrium, or at least require time to stabilize. moreover, the effects of the asian crisis on the real economies of the immediately affected countries, as well as on our own economy, are only now just being felt. opponents of imf support for member countries facing international financial difficulties also argued that such substantial financial backing, by cushioning the losses of imprudent investors, encourages excessive risk - taking. there doubtless is some truth in that, though arguably it has been the expectation of governments ’ support of their financial systems that has been the more obvious culprit, at least in the asian case. in any event, any expectations of broad bailouts have turned out to have been disappointed. many if not most investors in asian economies have to date suffered substantial losses. moreover, the policy conditionality, associated principally with imf lending, which dictates economic and financial discipline and structural change, helps to mitigate some of the inappropriate risk - taking on the part of governmental authorities. at the root of the problems has been poor public policy that has resulted in misguided investments and very weak financial sectors. convincing a sovereign nation to alter destructive policies that impair its own performance and threaten contagion to its neighbors is best handled by an international financial institution, such as the imf. what we have in place today to respond to crises should be supported even as we work to improve those mechanisms and institutions. some observers have also expressed concern about whether we can be confident that imf programs for countries, in particular the countries of east asia, are likely to alter their economies significantly and permanently. my sense is that one consequence of this asian crisis is an increasing awareness in the region that market capitalism, as practiced in the west, especially in the united states, is the superior model ; that is, it provides greater promise of producing rising standards of living and continuous growth. although east asian economies have exhibited considerable adherence to many aspects of free - market capitalism, there has, nonetheless, been a pronounced tendency toward government - directed investment, using the banking system to finance that investment. given a record of real growth rates of close to 10 percent per annum over an extended period of time, it is not surprising that it has been difficult to convince anyone that the economic system practiced in east asia could not continue to produce positive results indefinitely. following the breakdown