Reposted from BAI’s Banking Strategies: Banks have struggled serving the un- and underbanked for decades. By definition, one wonders how banks can ever serve the unbanked. Even so, to date, it seems that a majority of bank efforts to capture more customers from both segments falls into two categories that…
You Suze, you don’t lose: Approval for the Approved Card
Suze Orman today announced her new Approved Card, because in her words (and inflection), “You. Can. Always. Bank. On. Me.” The card is the latest in a long line of prepaid cards, a relatively new financial instrument that functions basically like a checkless checking account, needn’t be marketed by a bank, offers…
Standards for Great Financial Services? We’re In!
Our venture fund, Core Innovation Capital, is singularly focused on investing in scalable financial technology companies that serve the American emerging market, the unbanked and underbanked. We have promised our investors (like Goldman Sachs) above market returns and we spend significant time analyzing the profit potential of each investment we…
Ninety nine Percent
I’m disappointed in the Occupy Wall Street movement, if you can call it that. I care, because I believe their beef is real. Economic inequality is significant. The poor are getting poorer. Main Street is suffering at the hands of Wall Street. Responsible, hard working people have odds stacked against…
Welcome Green Dot Bank
On Freedom Boulevard in Provo, Utah, nestled between the mountains of Uinta National Forest and Lake Utah is a nice little one-branch bank, pictured above. It looks innocent enough. Its CEO, Doug Christensen, invites personal emails from his home page. Ping him quickly, as I assume he’s soon out of a…
Not Unbanked: Untapped. Underserved spend $45B on financial services
Most believe the underserved are large in numbers and small in market potential. Of course micro lenders around the world, such as Nobel laureate Grameen Bank, who serve the poor with small, market rate “business” loans have demonstrated it’s big business – and largely, good for the world. But here…
The “Say/Do” Contradiction
A wise COO of a Green Dot pointed out the “say/do” contradiction the other day. It is something that beguiles anyone trying to understand their customer, but especially those who are serving “them.” Let me clarify: we all say we want to lose weight, pay off our debt, run a marathon, save…
Is Financial Innovation an Oxymoron?
Since I started writing at Forbes, I’m unclear what to do with my “own” blog. So, for today, I’m reposting. If you have a better idea, let me know. The week before last I attended a show-and-tell event for adults in the crevice of the financial industry that calls itself…
Interest in Principles?
After hundreds of billions of bailout dollars and a litany of ensuing debacles, our banks are not the pride of the nation. Bankers are more maligned than used-car salesmen, it seems. Bank regulators have been completely overhauled and the aftermath of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau won’t be written for…
“Um, excuse me!” My Comment to the OCC on small-dollar loans
Re: OCC Guidance on Deposit-Related Consumer Credit Products (Docket ID OCC-2011-0012) Dear OCC Representative: Core Innovation Capital is submitting this letter in response to the request for comments by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on June 8, 2011. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the…