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Financial services professionals in the United States can learn a lot from South Africa. The country has a sophisticated financial services industry, with well-developed capital markets and established companies offering a wide range of personal finance products. However, South ...

Insurance plays a critical role in asset building. Not only does it provide protection against financial losses caused by death or disasters but it can also help build net worth and protect or transfer wealth. Yet many people, particularly those ...

The phenomenon of international remittances is rapidly transforming the financial landscape. This report analyzes a nationwide study of Latin American and Caribbean migrant remittance senders and their access as well as use of card products. The results show that significant ...

Branded reloadable general spending cards are gaining traction with consumer groups making the prepaid card market one of the fastest changing segments of the financial services industry. The recent entry of general spending card providers to the marketplace and the ...

A collaborative pilot program between the Center for Community Change and the Center for Financial Resources has been established to engage worker centers as a primary point-of-access to pre-paid cards for immigrant workers. The model is based on a recent ...

The Retail Financial Services Initiative (RFSI) is a three-year project organized by NCIF that seeks to increase the quantity and quality of financial services for unbanked and low- to moderate-income consumers. Starting in October 2003, a group of banks and ...

The research that laid the foundation for CFSI argues that the interests of the financial services industry and low-income consumers are converging. The paper also presents evidence that this development can benefit both financial services firms and the underbanked market, ...

This paper discusses the implications of stored value cards (SVCs) for unbanked and underbanked consumers, explores the hypothesis that SVCs can offer consumers the potential to build assets and improve their credit records, and presents policy issues that may affect ...

Discusses the potential that stored value cards (SVCs) have to serve as cash and check alternatives for otherwise underbanked consumers. Provides insight into important industry innovations and trends, including pricing, marketing, remittance features, bill payment, consumer protections, future savings options, ...

One of the greatest challenges facing financial services companies seeking to penetrate the underbanked market is that the traditional bank account frequently does not work for either party. BankFirst developed its general purpose reloadable card to meet this need. The ...

In today’s competitive business climate, financial institutions find themselves in need of new and more flexible products to attract customers and retain savings and investment accounts. SAVE252 was founded to address this challenge. Its groundbreaking daily IRA allows consumers ...

The traditional entry point for a banking relationship, the checking account, frequently does not appeal to underbanked consumers. Check cashing can be a valuable way to acquire new customers. VALID Systems develops check cashing technology and transaction processing solutions for ...

Boston-based CircleLending broke new ground by developing a set of products and services to formalize and facilitate interpersonal loans between provate parties for business, mortgage, and basic loans. Click on the link above to download a PDF document of ...

Community Empower offers services to help people become home owners. Because so many of its customers were underbanked, the for-profit company sought a way to help its clients save money. The solution came in the form of the Power Card, ...