-
World Bank issues first-ever poverty bond, gets $1.5 billion
The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) launched the world’s first poverty bond this week, a debt offering representatives say is designed to lift up the poor, and global investors literally couldn’t get enough.
- Categories
- Investing
-
Concern Worldwide, Trickle Up and MetLife Foundation to support ultra poor women in Bangladesh
The program aims to support 600 families through an adapted graduation approach and increase access and usage of financial services for 12,400 women.
- Region
- South Asia
-
U.S. Federal Reserve may review rules on lending to the poor
Changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) may be necessary due to the rise of online lenders, known as “fintech” firms, as well as industry consolidation, that has reshaped the community lending landscape.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- banking, banks, fintech, lending, loans, poverty, regulations, United States
-
What Happens When You Invest In Entrepreneurship At The Margins
There are countless ways that distressed communities in the US differ from the remote areas where my organization, Root Capital, operates. But they have at least this in common: They have an acute need for investment. And we need more gatekeepers of capital to take up that challenge.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
- Region
- North America
-
Microenterprise graduation leads to higher consumption, asset ownership
“Helping the ultra-poor escape extreme poverty is a global priority, but policymakers are faced with competing ideas about the best way to accomplish this,” said Village Enterprise’s CEO Dianne Calvi.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Wall St. Journal Financial Inclusion Challenge Seeks Innovative Enterprises – Application Deadline Feb. 23
Financial instability plagues millions of Americans. Many cannot pay their monthly bills and have no retirement savings or no idea how to manage what they do have. The Wall Street Journal has launched a Financial Inclusion Challenge aimed at both nonprofits and for-profit organizations who have socially impactful solutions to the problems of low- and moderate-income people in the U.S. The deadline for entry is Feb. 23.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech, Investing
-
Opinion: Angus Deaton and the Location of Poverty
In short, the Nobel laureate's recent claim that 5.3 million Americans live below the World Bank's absolute poverty line—and thus foreign aid should be redirected back home—compares income data for the US to consumption data from developing countries. Comparing like with like suggests a very different picture.
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- data, poverty, United States
-
Does Digital Finance Really Address Low-Income Customers’ Needs?
Digital financial services are proliferating across the developing world, yet providers are having trouble coming up with products that meet low-income customers where they live. For instance, for a rural customer, how can a stagnant digital savings account compete with a productive egg-laying hen? Maha Khan and Annabel Schiff, representing the newly formed Mastercard Foundation Partnership for Finance in a Digital Africa, unveil new research exploring how digital financial services can meet people's needs alongside more traditional services.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Inclusive Fintech
Parent Organization
