Financial (dis-)information: Evidence from a multi-country audit study

We conduct an audit study in Ghana, Mexico and Peru to assess whether mandated disclosures are enforced and whether products offered meet the needs of low-income customers. Trained auditors visited financial institutions seeking credit and savings products. We find that staff only provides cost information when asked, disclosing less than a third of the total cost voluntarily. With this limited information, the advantages to comparison shopping are small. In addition, clients are rarely offered the least costly product. (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.