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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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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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- Region
- South Asia
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New, Individual-Level Data on Financial Inclusion: The “Unbanked” Are Deterred by Cost, Documentation, and Travel Requirements
WASHINGTON, December 13, 2012 – Policy makers can boost the number of people using formal financial services through policies that help reduce the cost, documentation requirements, and travel distance associated with accessing a bank account, says a new World Bank research paper.
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- Education
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Honoring November’s ‘NextBees’ : Buzz-worthy tales of bucking culture, reaching markets
Welcome to the second edition of the “NextBees,” our monthly awards recognizing the posts with the most – the most reads, the most comments and/or the most shares on social media – that is. The two most-read posts that also elicited the most reactions and shares on NextBillion in November, essentially, were all about bucking corporate culture.
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Kenya SMEs Get U.S.$60 Million
Nairobi — The World Bank has extended a $60 million loan towards boosting Kenya's fledgling Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) sector.
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- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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NexThought Monday – A Close Look at Safaricom’s M-Shwari : Mobile, yes, but how ‘cool’ is it for customers?
Finally it’s here, a banking product on Safaricom’s terms. Following last week’s announcement, foreign M-PESA watchers get to add another word to their stock of essential Swahili words: shwari, meaning ‘calm’ or ‘cool.’The financial inclusion community has keenly been looking for more instances of mobile money platforms connecting with bank offerings. Before you rejoice at this announcement, consider what it means for other banks in Kenya.
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