In this episode we talk with Shivani Siroya, the CEO and founder of Tala. Tala is focused on delivering financial services to the underserved across the developing world, they are a true fintech success story.
On episode 24 I talk with Carl-Alain Memnon of Grain. Grain is the Digital Credit Card for Everyone, they provide...
Business considerations may prevent large banks from tackling financial inclusion, but the tech supporting inclusion program exists.
One of the promises of fintech is to expand access to credit to those who have previously been excluded. At LendIt USA 2016 we featured many of the leading companies in the space who are making real progress here.
LendUp and Oportun are both helping underserved consumers in the USA. ZestFinance is providing the underwriting engine that enables lenders throughout the world to expand their customer base and China Rapid Finance is helping the emerging middle class access credit in China.
In the USA there are 53 million people who do not have a credit file with the major bureaus. Oportun creates proprietary risk models that score those people that most of the industry finds unscoreable. The Hispanic community, where they focus, has unique challenges that Oportun is addressing directly.
Zane Wang from China Rapid Finance introduced us to the concept of "EMMAs" - emerging middle-class mobile active users. There are about 500 million people who have quality jobs but do not have credit access - they call these people EMMAs - they are not really underserved, they are in fact completely untapped.
ZestFinance is all about data. They use traditional data sources as well as their own unique sources. They use tens of thousands of data points that enable them to far more accurately underwrite those customers. They provide this technology to platforms in the USA and China.
Sasha Orloff from LendUp works on helping their customers improve their financial situation through their LendUp Ladder, a payday alternative. They do this through education and helping their customers get out of the payday debt traps. They reward their customers when they educate themselves on finance and provide help and support along the way.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says the current crisis is a wake up call for both government and business to...
A few weeks ago the World Bank released the triennial Global Findex Database for 2017. We covered the release on...
Mike Cagney has built a reputation as one of the smartest people in all of fintech. His capacity to raise...
The Economist magazine's intelligence unit (EIU) has published a report on regulatory support for financial inclusion in developing countries and it is now gaining traction with press and analysts; the report scores countries on having an inclusiveness strategy and building governmental and private sector expertise, then provides in-depth details in areas including credit markets, non-regulated lenders, payments and insurance; Colombia ties Peru this year for the most progressive country; India has shown the most improvement; Latin America and East/South Asia are leaders regionally while Africa and the Middle East remain behind; the EIU performed the research in conjunction with the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion and the Multilateral Investment Fund at the Inter-American Development Bank. Source
In episode 37 I talk with Christine Kenna of Ignia. Ignia invests in world-class tech entrepreneurs solving problems faced by the emerging middle class in Latin America.
In episode 34, I talk with Adriana Saman of Clocktower Technology Ventures. Clocktower Technology Ventures is the technology investing arm within Clocktower Group, a global macro investment firm based in Santa Monica, CA, and investing worldwide.