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PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL CURRENCY

Apr 23, 2012

Corporate Responsibility

Sixth Annual Financial Literacy Summit in Chicago

Today, we’re once again working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to put on our annual Financial Literacy Summit. At the event, speakers from around the world will be exploring potential solutions to improve financial literacy and discussing the successes and challenges faced in various countries around the world.  This will be the sixth consecutive year that we’ve partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to co-sponsor the Summit, which helps to mark national Financial Literacy Month and Money Smart Week in Chicago. Highlights of today’s Summit include:

  • The results of the 2012 Global Financial Literacy Barometer from Visa and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine. The barometer assesses and ranks the financial literacy levels of people in 28 nations.
  • The release of Visa’s new, free, comprehensive personal finance high school curriculum called the “Practical Money Skills Course,” which covers subjects such as budgeting, saving, loans, insurance and more.
  • A panel presentation on original financial education research that explored ways financial knowledge and behavior can be improved.

To view the full Summit online, visit www.practicalmoneyskills.com/summit2012.

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Posted by: Erika White, Visa Corporate Relations on April 23, 2012 at 8:34 am

Category: Corporate Responsibility, Financial Literacy, Government Regulatory Issues & Interchange, Uncategorized
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Mar 7, 2012

Empowering Women through Financial Inclusion

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, it is critical that Financial Inclusion be on the global agenda, for enabling women to access tools for financial success – such as a way to pay, store and manage their finances via mobile phone – often is a critical first step to overall empowerment.

Today, approximately 2.5 billion adults lack access to formal financial services, and the majority are women. Being financially underserved means not having a safe, convenient and affordable way to conduct their daily financial lives, such as paying school fees, receiving a government disbursement or sending money to a family member in a rural village. Lack of access to formal financial services also limits a family’s ability to prepare for financial shocks, resulting in tough choices—paying for a daughter’s school fees or putting food on the table—that perpetuate the cycle of poverty.                                  

  Photo credit: Jeffrey Ashe/Oxfam America

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on March 7, 2012 at 4:10 pm

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Corporate Responsibility, Financial Inclusion
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Dec 2, 2011

The Next Frontier for Financial Education

When I arrived in South Africa for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s conference on financial education I was struck by the contrasts in this fascinating country.

But even more intriguing than the economic, social and topographical diversity was a striking commonality. From the densely packed urban townships, to the opulent Cape Town shopping malls, to the rural farm communities, there are mobile phone towers. They spring up everywhere, even in places without running water or reliable electricity.

I was startled to find that 3G network access was available every place I went, including, at one a point, on a bone-rattling, dusty road miles from any buildings. Being in South Africa it became clear to me the need to also deliver financial education by this ubiquitous tool.

One of the biggest challenges for those of us working to improve financial literacy is how to have this vital information connect with consumers. It has to be relevant, timely and accessible. And it’s ‘accessible’ that is the moving target.

Ten years ago web-based content was often seen as the best way to reach the end user. While traditional computers accessing the Internet are still a powerful tool, mobile phones have become the screen of choice today for many audiences including everyone I met in South Africa.

I am convinced that in places like Africa, the next opportunity in financial literacy is to take the fundamentals of personal finance – budgeting, saving, responsible spending, wise use of credit and access to the banking system – and deliver them on a mobile device at the right time, to the right audience. This won’t be accomplished overnight or by one organization. Working collectively, though, I am convinced we can make it happen.

A mobile phone tower perched on a thatched roof in rural South Africa.

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Posted by: Jason Alderman, Visa Corporate Relations on December 2, 2011 at 9:48 am

Category: Corporate Responsibility, Uncategorized
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Nov 18, 2011

NEW TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE HUMANITARIAN AID IN EMERGENCIES

This week, leading humanitarian organizations are gathering in Nairobi, Kenya, for “Cash Transfer Programming in Emergencies,” the fifth global learning event organized by the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP).

This event brings together humanitarian professionals to share experiences and best practices in delivering cash in emergencies, with a particular focus on the role that new technologies—including digital currency—can play in improving the delivery of money. Technologies like prepaid cards to deliver money to flood victims in Pakistan; money delivered by mobile phone in Haiti for earthquake survivors to pay for recovery work; and codes delivered by mobile phone to use for purchasing food in the Philippines.

Building upon our existing partnership with the CaLP, Visa participated in today’s event to share our experiences and insights in electronifying the distribution of money, both in times of emergency and through non-emergency social development programs, including:

  • In the Dominican Republic, Visa has helped the government’s Social Subsidies Administration electronify the distribution of money through the Solidaridad Visa card, allowing more than 800,000 people to receive critical benefits like unemployment, nutrition assistance, and help for the elderly.
  • In 2010 after catastrophic flooding impacted 20 million people, Visa and our partner financial institutions helped the government of Pakistan deliver emergency cash aid via the Watan Visa prepaid debit card, reaching more than 2 million families and ensuring that flood victims received financial help quickly and securely

As Visa shared today in Nairobi, there are a number of challenges and opportunities to address, including:

  • Infrastructure: advancing the digital currency infrastructure needed to enable electronic delivery of cash ahead of when emergencies occur rather than deploying it during a crisis situation
  • Collaboration: enhancing the collaboration between the global development and humanitarian communities to advance the mutually-beneficial objectives of financial inclusion and enhanced humanitarian support, as well as incorporating a role for the private sector who can help these responses scale and be sustainable
  • Education: ensuring that the beneficiaries of these programs, often unfamiliar with digital currency, receive their benefits along with the education required to understand and use them

As the humanitarian community increases its use of programs that deliver cash in place of physical goods, we are committed to helping this community bring the distribution of aid payments into the 21st century. Because at the end of the day, it is about working together to help those impacted restore their lives.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on November 18, 2011 at 9:19 am

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Corporate Responsibility
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Aug 2, 2011

Learning from the Tooth Fairy

From Time Magazine, to the Washington Times, to the Denver Post, to Parenthood.com, there has been widespread coverage in the past week about a recent survey we released showing that the amount the Tooth Fairy leaves children has declined by 40 cents, to $2.60 per tooth in 2011.

Aside from stirring up water cooler and book club conversations over the appropriate amount to leave under the pillow for a loose tooth, I’ve been asked repeatedly: ‘Why does Visa care about the Tooth Fairy?’

The answer is simple: money left by the Tooth Fairy presents an ideal teachable moment for parents to discuss money management with their children.

When a child discovers that her tooth has been replaced in the dead of the night with money, that cash has far more value to her than its official worth as legal tender. Regardless of the amount, it is, by definition, magical. And while a check from the grandparents might by welcomed and generous, there is no mystery or fantasy surrounding it.

Recognizing the power of the Tooth Fairy’s largess with my own two children (who give me breathless, hourly updates whenever a tooth shows the slightest hint of wiggling) we decided to arm parents with a few conversation starters they can use with their own kids.

Many parents don’t know how or when to begin talking to their kids about money and the Tooth Fairy gives us a perfect opening. Even asking simple questions like the following can help instill your family’s financial values:

  • What do you plan to do with the money?
  • Do you want to save some of it for that toy you’ve been wanting?
  • What about setting some aside for charity?

If the Tooth Fairy can help launch a few more children on their way to a lifetime of successfully managing money, it’s well worth the effort.

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Posted by: Jason Alderman, Visa Corporate Relations on August 2, 2011 at 9:26 am

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Corporate Responsibility, Financial Literacy, Uncategorized
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Jul 29, 2011

Visa Employees Collaborate on the “It Gets Better Project”

Our employees are valued for their culture, experiences and skills, all of which contribute to Visa’s success. In support of Visa’s Diversity and Inclusion efforts, Visa Pride serves as an Employee Resource Group to LGBT and ally employees. The following article from our internal website discusses one of this group’s latest initiatives – a video to give hope to struggling Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender youth.    

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The It Gets Better Project ™ is a worldwide movement founded in 2010 in response to a series of tragic suicides by youths that occurred last fall. These youth were bullied because of their self-identification as Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual (LGBT), or a perceived LGBT identity because they were simply “different.” Members of Visa Pride, a Visa Employee Resource Group for Diversity and Inclusion, wanted to add their voices to the thousands of others to provide a message of optimism and encouragement.

At the heart of the It Gets Better Project ™ are over 22,000 video submissions including those received from politicians, such as President Barack Obama, celebrities, corporate employees, and national and international sports teams. These videos bring a message of hope to many LGBT youth who cannot imagine a future for themselves as openly gay adults.

Twenty employees from Visa Pride teamed up to encourage LGBT young people by sharing stories of their own lives and personal messages that offer a glimpse of what the future may hold in store. 

Click here to view Visa’s It Gets Better video.

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Posted by: Scott Sullivan, Global Head of Human Resources, Visa Inc. on July 29, 2011 at 8:23 am

Category: About Visa, Corporate Responsibility, Uncategorized
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Jun 27, 2011

Serving the Base of the Economic Pyramid

Two and a half billion adults around the world lack access to formal financial services, including 1 billion who have a mobile phone but not a bank account.

But today, a great opportunity exists. Technology is rapidly improving our ability to reach the underserved and provide them with a range of financial services that are convenient to use and appropriate for their needs. This includes more convenient ways to make payments, send and receive remittances, and build and access savings.

Governments and industry both appear to recognize the opportunities to serve the underserved, a shared purpose that is on full display at this week’s 1st Forum for the Development of the Base of the Pyramid in Latin America and the Caribbean, an event organized by the Inter-American Development Bank. The event brought together key regional players from the public and private sector, and I am in Sao Paulo to share my perspective on technology and financial inclusion.

At Visa, we think one of the most valuable contributions we can make in the world is helping to bring more people into the formal financial system. Improving access to financial services and electronic payments is a critical building block to help more people improve their lives and lift themselves out of poverty.

There are plenty of examples of Visa’s products and services that enable financial inclusion. Programs like the Visa Solidaridad card in the Dominican Republic have redefined the way government subsidies are distributed, while helping to bring card acceptance to merchants in the country’s smallest neighborhoods. The Solidaridad card is an excellent example of how prepaid technology can accelerate regional financial inclusion by introducing thousands of new consumers to formal financial services in a gradual and effective fashion. 

In a region where 88% of the adult population has a mobile phone but only 35% has a bank account, this type of infrastructure creates new financial inclusion moments for citizens. Today, the possibilities to narrow the gap between those that are included and excluded are endless. But expanding access to financial services isn’t without its challenges. By putting together the minds and the initiatives of governments, companies and organizations, we can do a lot more than working separately. If new technologies are to reshape the world of financial inclusion, it will be by increased collaboration and joined efforts, such as those on display at 1st Forum for the Development of the Base of the Pyramid in Latin America and the Caribbean.

For more on the event go to http://www.baseforumbop.com/

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Posted by: Jose Maria Ayuso, Head of Core Products, Visa Inc. Latin America and the Caribbean Region on June 27, 2011 at 5:34 pm

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Corporate Responsibility, Currency of Progress
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May 16, 2011

Reinventing the wheel

One of the challenges facing all of us who work to promote financial literacy is helping connect those who create content, with those who deliver it. At Visa we are largely content creators and we rely on banks, credit unions, NGOs, government, parents and teachers to take our personal finance materials and deliver them to their audiences.

I frequently hear from those on the front line about how hard it can be to find the right content to use. Teachers and parents don’t have weeks to devote to scouring the web for the best content. Neither do government agencies. States in particular no longer have the luxury of reinventing the wheel to create their own programs. In many cases they don’t need to; the high-quality content already exists.

Smart state governments realize that helping their students learn the fundamentals of money management is more important than ever and are looking for innovative ways to teach it at a low or no cost.

Visa has stepped up to the plate by providing free classroom curriculum to states. Our latest partnership is with South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis, who is launching a new program to help teach personal finance to elementary school children in the Palmetto State.

Thanks to Treasurer Loftis, South Carolina will be the first state in the nation to distribute two new personal finance video games we created: Peter Pig’s Money Counter and Money Metropolis. These educational computer games teach kids the fundamentals: from identifying and counting coins, to learning about saving, budgeting and earning.

Starting this week, the Treasurer’s office is distributing free disc copies of the games to every public, private, and charter elementary school in South Carolina. The Treasurer’s impressive outreach is being complimented by a statewide tour of elementary schools to promote the new initiative. From Charleston to Greenville, the Treasurer will be teaching children how to play these new games and providing those schools with tablet computers donated by Visa so they can also play the Android version.

This kind of model partnership brings together an expert content creator and an expert at content delivery, with children and taxpayers being the big winners. No new wheels required.

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Posted by: Jason Alderman, Visa Corporate Relations on May 16, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Category: Corporate Responsibility, Financial Literacy
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Feb 16, 2011

Delivering Money in Times of Emergency

Today, Visa announced a new partnership with the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP). The CaLP is a consortium of leading humanitarian organizations focused on improving the quality of “cash transfer programming”—the distribution of money to communities in need particularly during times of emergency. The Visa-CaLP partnership, focused on helping humanitarian aid organizations improve the speed and efficiency of relief payments in times of disaster, is part of our Corporate Responsibility commitment to help during times of humanitarian crisis and builds upon Visa’s experience working with governments around the world to disburse benefits—including helping the government of Pakistan distribute over US$317 million to 1.45 million households in three months in the flood-ravaged country.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on February 16, 2011 at 8:13 am

Category: About Visa, Corporate Responsibility
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Nov 19, 2010

India – Bringing Banking to the Un-banked

Currently in India, the vast majority of many residents simply do not have access to basic banking services. One of the greatest challenges for the government is ensuring that all of its citizens are able to access these services—the concept of financial inclusion is a key focus and fundamental principle of the Indian government. It helps facilitate economic growth, it allows the un-banked for the first time—in many instances—to be able to effectively save, access credit, efficiently pay for goods and services (as well, in the case of merchants to be paid),  and it offers the added benefit of reducing fraud and increasing tax revenue.

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Posted by: Uttam Nayak, Group Country Manager, Visa Inc. on November 19, 2010 at 9:24 am

Category: Corporate Responsibility, Currency of Progress
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