> it's because they've spent 30 years studying, copying, and improving upon American legal, financial, and business management systems.

My goodness. American exceptionalism at its very finest. You honestly think that Eurorpean, Asian, and other countries have nothing to offer? Not everything great is from American. We need to get over ourselves and realize that we're not at all that exceptional. Do we do certain things better? Absolutely. Do we do certain things worse and have a lot to learn from others? You can bet your last dollar.

It's not American exceptionalism but rather a statement about the tendency of Chinese policymakers to focus on America when they look for inspiration in reforming their legal, financial and business systems. For most Chinese, America is the stereotypical example of how those things work in foreign countries. In other domains they may look to other countries, e.g. Japan and Germany when it comes to industry.

I think you replied to the wrong person :) Incidentally, I do fully agree with you.

AFAIK the reason why poor people are unbanked in America is because they can't afford the fees/minimum balance associated with the account. I fail to see how switching from $0.50 bank cards to phone apps is going to make banking more affordable.

Afaik exchanging money through mobile phone apps in Africa doesn’t involve actual banks, that’s why I used the expression “de facto banked”. The money-exchange system is totally different, more advanced if you look at it from the poor people’s perspective.

You’re probably correct though, this could never happen in the US because of regulatory capture (by the banks, mostly, but not only).