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You Can’t Change What You Can’t See: Taking America’s Financial Health Pulse
Last week, a new FDIC survey revealed that the number of unbanked U.S. households has reached the lowest point since the survey started in 2009. Meanwhile, advances in fintech and a strong overall economy suggest that the financial prospects of most Americans should be looking up. But as Center for Financial Services Innovation president Jennifer Tescher points out, the story is not that simple. In reality, she says, a massive number of Americans are struggling financially. She explores this and other troubling findings in the U.S. Financial Health Pulse, a landmark new study that aims to show the true picture of Americans’ financial lives.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press release: MicroVest Capital Management Announces the Closing of a $20mm Credit Facility with MetLife Investment Management
The credit line enables MicroVest to better manage liquidity of the fund to deploy more capital, more quickly, to the places that need it the most. Per MicroVest’s stated mission, these are often microfinance institutions in emerging and frontier markets that have few other means of accessing capital to promote financial inclusion within their markets.
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- Finance
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Women Worldwide Struggle to Access Banking Services. Bitcoin Is Only Making That Worse
Blockchain technology is currently being used to distribute aid to 100,000 Syrian refugeesby The World Food Programme. And plans for future blockchain initiatives within the U.N. alone run from ending child trafficking to providing services for women and girls in humanitarian settings.
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- Finance
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Viewpoint: What developing countries can teach America about banking
For many, the inability to even get to a physical branch — bank branches are highly concentrated in urban areas — means that they don't have access to banking services at all. As a result, about 6.5% of American households still don't have a bank account, while another 18.7% are "underbanked" — they have an account, but also use check-cashing or payday loans. In all, over 60 million adults are unbanked or "underbanked" in this country.
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- Finance
- Region
- North America
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Press release: New Report Shows Creating Financial Access for Immigrants & Underserved Entrepreneurs Increases Credit Scores and Leads to Job Creation
Opportunity Fund research shows microlending to immigrant and underserved entrepreneurs in California creates a path into the mainstream economy for borrowers and leads to job creation and economic activity in communities.
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- Press release
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- Finance
- Region
- North America
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Viewpoint: Designing financial products for women
Current financial service models conflate women with ‘family’, considering them merely an avenue to pursue social welfare.
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- Finance
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Creating a Culture of Innovation By Letting Employees Lead the Way
For nearly 30 years, Pro Mujer has been a regional leader in Latin America – not only in microfinance, but in women’s empowerment. But facing an evolving landscape with emerging technologies and new market participants, the organization realized that it needed to develop a more innovative approach. As it considered how to establish a culture of innovation, Pro Mujer turned to a surprising (yet intuitive) resource: its employees. Cassandra Salcedo, Associate Director of Strategy and Innovation at Pro Mujer, shares five key lessons the organization learned from the process.
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- Finance, Technology
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Report: Over 8 of 10 Small Banks, Microlenders and Co-Ops in the Philippines are Not Ready to Go Digital
“The dominant picture in our data is that majority of financial institutions are not yet ready to transform their business at this point, confirming anecdotal evidence long held by the industry,” wrote FINTQ in the report. “This conclusion indeed raises a notch higher the urgency in enabling financial institutions to be digitally ready, as the pattern uncovered in our data has profound implications on the country’s progress towards expanding financial inclusion in the countryside.”
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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