Ms Camille Aznar
PhD student

School of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
c.aznar@qmul.ac.uk

Research interests:

Risk, financial exclusion and migrant workers in London

Financial inclusion has (re)emerged on academic and policy agendas across western economies including the US, UK and European Union. While research has focused upon delineating the broader aspects of financial ex/inclusion, there has been limited investigation into the experiences of specific excluded groups. Research on migrant workers is especially scarce even while existing numbers and predicted flows of migrants to advanced economies suggest that they represent an important new source of demand for financial services and products while also having distinct transnational financial needs. Existing research in the US indicates that migrants are more likely to experience financial exclusion, with almost half suffering from some level of exclusion. While comparable figures are not available in the UK, recent research implies that exclusion among migrant communities is also higher then for the UK population as a whole.

While financial exclusion is shaped by a complex interplay of supply and demand factors, risk is potentially a particularly salient if under-researched factor in defining financial exclusion. Financial institutions have developed increasingly sophisticated mechanisms to assess the risk of providing goods and services to different socio-economic groups located in distinct geographical areas. In turn, migrants arguably fare badly in such scores due to a number of reasons including, inter-alia, their lack of credit history or broader financial presence in host countries. At the same time, and building upon the notion that risk is, to a large extent, socially constructed, migrant communities have their own understandings of risk which critically shape their engagement with financial institutions and services. Indeed, they may manage different levels and types of risks whereby the costs of being financially ex/included are balanced against and shaped by their migration histories, immigration status and transnational lives.

Key words/expressions: migrant worker, migrant communities, financial exclusion/inclusion, risk

This is project is a collaboration between Queen Mary’s Geography department and the Runnymede Trust,  social policy research organization focused on race equality and race relations. Its mission is to investigate challenges to race equality, enable effective social action, and influence public policy debates.


Research objectives (so far):

  1. Explore migrant men and women's understandings of risk and examine how these are shaped by transnational migration, immigration status and labour market outcomes
  2. Identify how different levels and types of risks are managed through specific financial practises and strategies
  3. Examine how risk shapes financial institutions engagement with migrant communities

Outcomes
Empirically, the project aims to provide an interesting study on an issue that is currently poorly understood and under-researched.

Theoretically, the project will provide an important contribution to understandings of how risk is constructed by both individuals and institutions and how this translates into particular risk management strategies. As such, this project will have important implications for the formulation of financial inclusion policies.

Policy, it is envisaged that the project will feed into government policies related to promoting financial inclusion among migrant communities.

Funding:
ESRC CASE PhD Studentship in collaboration with the Runnymede Trust.

Supervisors:
Dr Kavita Datta (Queen Mary) and Dr Omar Khan (the Runnymede Trust

Publications

  • C. Aznar (forthcoming) Book Review: Brokered Boundaries by D. Massey and R. Sanchez, Journal of Urban Studies
  • C. Aznar (2010) Book Review: Global Cities at Work by Jane Wills and colleagues, The Runnymede Trust Bulletin, Spring Issue 2010
  • C. Aznar (2010) Risk and migration, The Runnymede Trust Bulletin, Summer Issue 2010
  • A Life in Debt, The profile of CAB debt clients in 2008 (2009), Citizens Advice: London 

Research assistance:

  • P. Mawhinney (forthcoming) The Costs of returning home- part 2, the Runnymede Trust: London
  • V. Bronk (2009) Turning the tide? Evidence from the free advice sector on the impact of initiatives to tackle mortgage and secured loan arrears and repossessions, Citizens Advice: London
  • A. Green (2009) A Story of Influence, Citizens Advice: London
  • O. Khan and P. Mawhinney (2010) The Costs of returning home, the Runnymede Trust: London

Selected Presentations:

  • Postgraduate conference day, School of Geography, Queen Mary (November 2010)
  • Student Forum on Co-operation Research, UCL, London  (December 2010)
  • Money Investment & Risk Conference at Nottingham Trent University (April 2010)
  • Cameroon Forum Conference “Engaging the Youth”, Luton (April 2010)

Poster presentations:

  • CRONEM / VISOR Conference, University of Surrey (June 2011)
  • RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2011 (September 2011)

Other activities:
Researcher for the Runnymede Trust