-
Skype co-founder raises $105m for Southeast Asian fintech startup
Oriente races big brands to reach unbanked Indonesians, Filipinos and Vietnamese. Oriente charges roughly 3-4% monthly interest rate, while Prentice said some microlending platforms in Southeast Asia charge more than 15%. Those who pay back in instalments are eligible for a discount of 25-50% on the interest rate.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
Press release: Citi and Banco Guayaquil Sign $20 Million Loan Agreement Benefiting Microfinance in Ecuador
With over 520,000 previously-unbanked clients that now have “Amiga Accounts” and a $70m loan book to finance microenterprises, Banco Guayaquil’s “Banco del Barrio” is one of the pioneering and most comprehensive inclusive finance programs in Latin America, significantly expanding access to financial services in Ecuador by leveraging a network of more than 4,400 non-bank customer touchpoints across the country.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
-
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
-
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.
- Categories
- Finance
-
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.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
-
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
-
Press release: Tez Financial Services Becomes the First Pakistani Startup to Raise $1.1 Million in Seed Round Led by Omidyar Network
"Our aim is to become the primary financial service provider for the unbanked and underbanked in Pakistan," said Nadeem Hussain, co-founder and CEO of Tez, who has more than 30 years of experience in the global financial services industry.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
-
Gates Foundation Partners Ripple and Coil in Financial Inclusion Initiative
Other than implementing Ripple’s Interledger Protocol, ways of using open source payments software MojaLoop to enable disbursement systems geared towards the poor will be explored. Gates Foundation provided the funding which financed the development of MojaLoop (which borrows the Swahili word Moja, meaning one).
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
Parent Organization
