-
Fighting Poverty Through … Car Title Loans? A Q&A with Finova CEO Greg Keough
The words "car title loan" are usually associated with cycles of debt and repossessed vehicles rather than any positive social impact. But Finova, a Florida-based startup, hopes to change that image and disrupt the $5.3 billion emergency cash lending industry by providing un- and under-banked people in the U.S. with access to fairly priced loans, while improving their credit scores and helping them get out of debt. We spoke with Greg Keough, Finova's CEO, in this Q&A.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
MTN Shuts Down Mobile Money Service in South Africa, Plans to Start Selling Insurance
In a country where more than 75 percent of people have bank accounts, South Africa-based mobile phone operator MTN Group has pulled the plug on its mobile money service there, saying it’s not viable.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
The One-Rupee Trick: How Banks Cut Their Zero-Balance Jan Dhan Accounts
In August 2014, a few weeks after the launch of Jan Dhan, the government’s flagship scheme under which the unbanked get bank accounts, Kamlesh, a housewife at Purnapur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, opened an account at the Punjab and Sind Bank’s local branch. Wife of a farmer, the opening balance in her account was zero. This wasn’t unusual — in fact, accounts like Kamlesh’s, called zero-balance accounts, made up almost half of all the 17.90 crore Jan Dhan accounts a year later given that most of the holders were poor and had little by way of savings.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
The 9 Best Countries to Be a Social Entrepreneur
Social entrepreneurs using businesses as a way to tackle social problems are emerging across the world.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Eight Principles for Digital Payments in Humanitarian Response
Recognizing both the practical challenges to using locally available digital payment services and the powerful opportunity to leverage humanitarian spending to build inclusive, lasting financial infrastructure, 24 public, multilateral and nongovernmental organizations met in Barcelona earlier this year and developed eight principles for digital payments in humanitarian response.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
India’s Microfinance Industry Clocked 60% Growth in Fiscal 2016
After years of subdued growth, the Indian microfinance (MFI) industry expanded more than 60% to Rs54,329 crore in 2015-16 compared to the previous year, according to a report prepared by Sa-Dhan, the self regulatory organisation of MFIs.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
How Digital Financial Services Can Lift Nigerians Out of Poverty
A report, the “financial inclusion insight (FII),” has stressed that digital financial services (DFS) can play a key role in managing expenses and setting individuals and households on paths to stay out of poverty permanently.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Report: Islamic Finance Will Shoot Up to $6.5 Trillion by 2020
The Global Islamic Financial system is multiplying on a fast track basis, and will touch $6.5 trillion by 2020. This is projected by the International Financial Service Board. The volume expanded from a meager $150 billion in 1990 to $ 1.8 trillion in 2015, the board reported.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- Islamic finance, lending