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National Bank of Kenya and WorldRemit’s join monetary forces
The newly-formed allegiance sees a partnership which will enable Kenyans living abroad to make instant transfers to Kenya.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Future of Microfinance is Mobile: FinTech Resolves Three Key Obstacles of Lending to the Unbanked
The microfinance industry has arrived at a new inflection point, according to Frederic Nze, CEO and founder of U.K.-based digital microlender Oakam. Those businesses that are slow to embrace the transformative power of smartphone technology will feel the full force of disruption over the next decade while access to fair, affordable retail financial services will flourish for consumers and small enterprises the world over.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion, Technology
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Responsible Finance: Moving Money from Mattresses to Mobiles
Technology has made it possible for lower-income people living in developing countries to access financial services that were previously beyond their reach. FINCA Impact Finance CEO Andrée Simon says her firm's new smartphone app, SimSim, which recently emerged from its pilot phase and already has 35,000 users, strikes a balance between the personal touch and modern fintech automation.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion, Technology
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Fear of a Jobless Planet: Can Entrepreneurship Counter the Coming AI Employment Crisis?
Imagine a future where robots are capable of doing just about everything under the sun, rendering countless professions across practically every industry obsolete. The first part of that dystopian vision has already come to pass. The second part hasn't, but could well be coming. What might be the solution? According to what we learned in July – entrepreneurship month at NB – it might fall on small businesses to answer the challenge.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, NextBillion Originals, Technology
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Press Release: New Report Details How Central Banks and Development Finance Institutions Try to Affect the World’s Environmental, Societal, and Financial Systems
Central Bank and Development Finance Institution Approaches to Investing in Global Systems analyzes six central banks (including two U.S. Federal Reserve System regional banks), seven DFIs, and one microfinance bank, all of which are known to be incorporating environmental, societal, or financial systems-level considerations into their programs.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion
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The Rise of a New Asset Class: Can ‘PAYGo Finance’ Connect Investors to Low-Income Customers?
Lendable has pioneered a marketplace lending platform that connects alternative lenders in East Africa with impact and institutional debt investors, to provide financing for leased assets like solar panels and motorcycles. According to BFA, providing these alternative lenders with structured debt financing could potentially give rise to a new asset class: PAYGo finance. If successful in raising funds from investors at scale, the Lendable approach could bring financing for low-income individuals full circle.
- Categories
- Energy, Financial Inclusion, Investing
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India has a new bank designed specifically for Indians afraid of banks
“In our surveys, one feedback was that several customers from the economically weaker sections found big banks intimidating. They were skeptical of how they will be treated,” said Rishi Gupta, managing director & CEO of FINO PayTech. “Therefore, we have tried to become a neighbourhood bank with the look and feel of a mom & pop store where the customer can walk in without hesitating.”
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- banking, financial innovation, FINO, India, unbanked
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From Kentucky to Kenya: Celebrating Financial Inclusion’s Potential – And Facing its Limitations
The financial inclusion industry is arguably more innovative and attuned to the needs of low-income clients than ever before. But how much of an impact can it make in a world where the problems of poverty and income inequality increasingly plague not only low-income countries, but wealthy ones too? We discuss the issue as NextBillion's Financial Inclusion Month concludes.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion, NextBillion Originals
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