Entrepreneurs have tried to disintermediate the $300 billion-or so that immigrants send back home every year for quite some time. Western Union and MoneyGram dominate the business and charge a lot. Should be easy to cut out the middleman, right? Wrong, although some new models are making a dent. Card…
Consumer Banking Oxymoron
Reams have already been written on how “retail” banks aren’t particularly people friendly. Today, the American Banker ran a couple stories on how smaller banks have better reputations than larger banks. I think the REAL story is how all banks rank below the best consumer brand in any industry. The…
Mobile lending, really?
Yesterday, one of my CFSI colleagues received the following SMS text on her phone: Authorization Code #8056-RFS (go to cash898.com now). Cash Advance as soon as 1 hour. Go To cash898.com. Reply STOP to Stop messages. This is the first instance I have seen of marketing for payday loans through…
Credit to the Poor
The New York Times ran an article on microfinance recently titled, Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans. It’s one of these topics that many people have a strong opinion about, but know little about. Unhelpfully, I know a lot about it, but don’t have a clear opinion. Basically, it…
Tango with Mango
Given that I’m the only person who reads this blog, I considered it a compliment that Roy and Bertrand Sosa asked me not to write about their new yogurt shop — erggg, I mean, their new financial services flagship for the underbanked — until it was official. I read about…
Doral, Dorsey and Deposits
For what it’s worth, today is the last day to get early-bird discount to CFSI’s annual shin-dig, the 5th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum. Who cares? Anyone remotely interested in the underbanked marketplace should think twice about not attending. The conference attracts an incredibly broad range of people, from hedge…
Strategic Ventures
At a time when venture capital, as an asset class, is not generating the returns it promises over the long haul (who wants fixed income returns for venture level risk?), it’s important to reconsider its structure and forms of value. Our friend David Dove makes some excellent points in his…
Previously Banked
A factoid we’ve been telling people for years came to the fore in the recently launched and very nice site, http://www.economicinclusion.gov/. The FDIC is behind it, believe it or not.
Alternatives in Alternative Credit
My colleagues and I have long believed in the power of alternative credit data and analytics. These are the alternatives to the “traditional” credit data and analytics, purveyed by FICO, TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, which are the most basic tools mainstream lenders use to assess whether you or I are…
How the red dot became a Green Dot
Green Dot, the leading general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid card program manager, is making the logical step in narrowing its supply chain. Especially with big retail clients like Wal-Mart, Green Dot must experience relatively thin margins. For the relatively uninitiated, GPR suffers from many hands at the trough: an issuing…