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India wants to make credit and debit cards obsolete for payments
Ever since India invalidated much of its cash, it has been encouraging its citizens to switch to mobile wallets and other epayment solutions. Today, it took another step in pushing its citizens to embark on the cashless payment solutions — but early boomers aren't going to like it. The Indian government has launched BharatQR Code to enable people to pay for things they purchase without swiping their plastic cards. Instead, merchants can ask shoppers to scan a QR code and make payments directly from their bank account.
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- South Asia
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Client Outcomes Data in Microfinance: Few Have It But Everybody Needs It
Many recent studies have found that microfinance has no impact, or minimal positive impact, on clients’ lives. To find out why and to fix the problem, financial service providers need client outcomes data, but few FSPs collect it because they think it would be too expensive and time-consuming. Turns out, according to the SPTF Outcomes Working Group, it's not.
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EXCLUSIVE: Bandhan Bank CEO on why we still need physical branches
The competition in the banking sector is all about services, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bandhan Bank, said in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol's Beena Parmar. Since starting operations in August 2015, the Kolkata-headquartered lender has garnered a record deposit base of Rs 20,000 crore and a similar amount in its loan portfolio.
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- South Asia
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The Hidden Cost of Digital Convenience
Technology has the potential to reduce costs and provide added financial benefits to poor clients, but a new paper discusses a downside to digitizing group microfinance transactions; namely, a reduction in group cohesion and sensitivity to transaction fees. Innovations for Poverty Action and others are partnering with product designers and microfinance groups to overcome these challenges.
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Common Cents Report: Behavioral Interventions Helping Americans Save More
The report details findings from seven completed behavioral intervention programs and ongoing research begun in 2016. The work is part of Common Cent Lab’s three-year effort to improve the financial well being for 1.8 million low-to-moderate income (LMI) households in America.
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Cash Defenders are Wrong: Digital Finance Truly is ‘Pro-Poor’
Digital economies are gaining momentum, says Njuguna Ndung’u, former governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, and poor households benefit the most. He's concerned that "the uninformed defenses of cash-heavy economies risk unnecessary distraction from the real issue of how to ensure digital economies maximize the benefits to people in poor communities around the world."
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Microfinance major Ujjivan commences its small finance bank operations in India
India-listed microfinance major Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd has begun the process of restructuring its business to becoming a small finance bank, following the Reserve Bank of India’s approval of its bank licence in September 2015. The new banking entity Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB) began operations with effect from February 1, 2017.
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- Region
- South Asia
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African Development Bank and Alliance for Financial Inclusion Partner to Promote Financial Inclusion in Africa
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance access to quality financial services on the continent on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The agreement aims to create a collaboration framework to promote financial inclusion in Africa.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa