Fintech banks the unbanked towards an uplift community

October 14, 2016

Fintech is well placed to give the current financial system a good shake up, that much is true. The underbanked and unbanked population have the most to gain from the Fintech boom. Fintech innovations provide some solutions to these problems. With the rise of telecoms and smartphones, there are multiple platforms and systems currently in development by Innovate Finance members which provide crucial steps in ensuring wealth does not remain insulated to the few. One example is M-Pesa, a mobile-phone based payments network serving millions of ‘unbanked’ in Kenya.

Innovations in Fintech

FinTech innovations making waves in financial access are new mobile phone apps that encourages users to start saving. Innovate Finance members such as Moneybox utilise the power of mobile to educate users about money. These platforms help people to review spending habits, incentivise the process of saving through rounding up everyday purchases and offering simple investment options and saving goals.

Crowdfunding platforms are also providing an alternative form of finance for those with access to the Internet. Fund Dreams India, Wishberry, Catapoolt and Ketto are all crowdfunding sites that are making significant inroads in shaping the future of India by enabling people to raise funds for personal and social causes without having to go to a bank to ask for money or to even possess a savings account.

Fintech platform (using trust as a differentiator) is Livestock Wealth. The founder identified a long-standing tradition and means of wealth creation, and created a Fintech savings product written in the language of pastoral wealth recognition. So although it is an entirely new product and platform, the concept is still recognisable – and hence trustworthy – in the eyes of the market it is serving.

Successful example of inclusive Fintech solution connecting the unbanked to financial services.

Kenya’s Chamasoft, leveraged traditional savings mechanisms to build its platform, and ensured that its group savings schemes mirrored what its market was already familiar with. In other words, the company pieced together new technology that still provided something recognisable for its customers.

  • The most famous is surely M-Pesa, which is mitigating the monstrous problem of costly domestic remittances in Africa.
  • Nigerian students in the West African republic were encouraged and motivated to open their own (transaction) accounts, and were taught how to use an online account to save money and pay bills, safely and securely.
  • In Mozambique, mobile-money has been used to increase remittances in rural areas, taking the position of informal practices that once dominated the nation’s countryside.
  • One company making a change through the utilisation of mobile communications is DoPay. Targeting the two billion employed unbanked, the firm (which is a graduate of Barclay’s Techstar Accelerator programme) has developed a cloud-based payroll software platform to enable employers to pay workers with prepaid debit cards instead of cash. By providing this mandatory solution, there is greater possibility for transparency in economies with fragile institutions and exposes the number of ‘ghost employees’ usually lodged within employee payrolls.

The Anglo African team can assist you in unlocking the full potential of FinTech for the prosper of your bank. If you have any queries or if you would like further information, please contact us on 2331636 or by e-mail at contact@angloafrican.com .

 

 

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