Hillary Clinton backs Princess Máxima's plan to give the world's poorest people access to financial facilities. She even took time to attend a meeting on Inclusive Finance addressed by the princess.

Princess Máxima presented an annual report on her microfinance activities at a special UN Millennium Development Goals summit in New York on Wednesday. She says it makes a lot of sense to provide poor people with bank accounts. She called it unbelievable that 2.7 billion people across the globe did not have access to banking facilities. The princess gave an example: “A teacher in Tanzania has to take two weeks off to collect her salary. That time would be better spent in the classroom.”

Bank accounts also mean more security according to Princess Máxima: "If you put money in the bank you don't have to hide it under the mattress, or carry it on you."

Last year, Princess Máxima was appointed Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

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