Potential and Pitfalls of Ethnic Marketing in Financial Services in Belgium

Abstract

Access to financial services constitutes an important prerequisite for participation in increasingly financialized societies and economies; however, financial exclusion remains commonplace among socio-economically weaker groups. In this chapter, the authors examine the role financial institutions could play in bridging such socio-ethnic divides in the context of Brussels as a commercial opportunity arises for institutions that are willing and able to cater, for instance through Islamic modes of finance, to relatively underserved Muslim communities. The chapter integrates and mirrors ethnic marketing literature and recent debates in geography about financial inclusion to discuss the obvious tensions that further financialization of economically weaker and culturally marginalized groups in society brings along. Doing so, the authors identify key societal trends at the interface of ethnic marketing and the propagation of “alternative” forms of finance and conclude with suggestions for an interdisciplinary research agenda.