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In Pakistan, Savings Circles Beat Banks
Ali has been selling wall clocks and wristwatches in a crowded Karachi market for 15 years. He’s been participating in savings circles with fellow shopkeepers for just as long, and has used the proceeds to buy a car and acquire a new store.Now he’s a few months away from getting 400,000 rupees ($4,100) from a savings group of 16 shopkeepers into which he’s been paying 1,000 rupees a day for almost a year. He plans to put a down payment on an apartment. “This system is flawless,” says Ali, 35, who goes by one name. “You can never save this way without this binding commitment of making payments every day or every month. At banks there are hassles and procedures that waste time. This is simple. The organizer comes to collect the money himself, and because of the trust element, it’s a given that we’ll get the money.”
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- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Asia’s Rising Economic Tide Doesn’t Lift All Boats: Multiple strategies for inclusive business investment from the ADB Forum
At the conclusion of a two-year scoping study of how to optimize financial support for inclusive businesses in the Asia Pacific, the Asian Development Bank convened the first Regional Forum for Investing in Inclusive Business in Asia last November, at its headquarters in Manila. The event brought together regional company executives, social impact investors, and development agencies to discuss how all of these actors can better support private sector engagement in inclusive development through targeted investment.
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- Uncategorized
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CFI at Accion, Citi, and Visa Inc. Launch Financial Inclusion 2020 to Accelerate Universal Financial Access
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, together with Citi and Visa Inc., today announced the launch of the Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign (FI2020). FI2020 is focused on the acceleration of financial inclusion by uniting the private sector, governments, NGOs, and other relevant parties to develop and advance a comprehensive strategy to achieve this aim.
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Controlling the Family Purse Strings, But Not the Cell Phone: mWomen report examines how low-income women can gain mobile money access
The report emphasizes that working with the communication channels used by BoP women could be an effective way of combating unfamiliarity, misconceptions, and inequitable social dynamics.
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Of Bank Accounts and Behavioural Economics: Will adaptive learning improve money management interfaces for the poor?
One of the biggest financial challenges anyone faces is the interrelated tasks of budgeting, paying, and saving from income. The rich and poor alike need help in this regard and there has been plenty of work by behavioural economists showing how reminders to follow through on savings behaviours, commitment accounts, account labelling, automatic deposits, formal commitments to friends, and other features.
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- Uncategorized
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Citi Foundation: Investing in products, access and people for financial inclusion
For many years, the Citi Foundation made many small grants. In 2008, we made 2,600 of them, some for just $2,500. They focused on activities accomplished rather than impact and results. Our objective was to disburse grants to as many community-based organizations as our financial resources would allow, with programs in many areas. We realized we needed to focus and set measurable impact targets that reflected sound investment thinking and responsible use of financial resources.
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Paying with ‘kisses’ as Brazil’s social currencies spread
Shopkeeper Heraldo Rodrigues da Silva, 55, owns a small store in Sao Benedito, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Vitoria, the capital of the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo.
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- Environment
- Region
- Latin America
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Will Saral Money reduce corruption?
India's ruling government is making cash transfers an important pillar in its 2014 election strategy, and while others might call it bribery, citizens shouldn't complain if such initiatives help reduce corruption.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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