Last month, we gathered a group of expert panelists from around the world for a faiVLive on the possibilities for fintech to serve the poor and reduce inequality. What have we learned about where fintech advances inclusion, and when it creates a new (digital) divide?
Read MoreViewing all posts with tag: unbanked
FAI In the News: What Kenya can teach its neighbors — and the US — about improving the lives of the “unbanked”
In a new article by Kelsey Piper on Vox, FAI’s Tim Ogden weighed in on the importance of mobile money in banking the unbanked in Kenya and the potential to spread Kenya’s model to its neighbors and around the world.
Read MoreFAI In the News: 4 Simple Ways to Take Control of Your Coronavirus Budget
The story of Becky and Jeremy Moore (names changed) from Financial Diaries was recently cited in a New York Times article about budgeting during the coronavirus. Becky and Jeremy’s story illustrates one major lesson from the Financial Diaries study of 2012–2013 — that financial insecurity is not simply a result of not having enough money, but rather of not having money at the right time, when it is needed. Financial Diaries documents how income volatility affects millions of Americans in different ways, from working on commission to unpredictable work hours, making it all the more difficult to set aside enough cash to weather a global pandemic.
Read MoreFAI In the News: Those Who Most Need The $1,200 Stimulus Checks May Wait the Longest (Time)
“This particular element is going to hit lower income people much more than higher income people,” says Jonathan Morduch, the executive director of NYU’s Financial Access Initiative. “They really have a double whammy—their incomes are being hit, and also the mechanism to help them is going to take longer.”
Source: Abby Vesoulis, Time Magazine, Published April 1, 2020.
Read More