Viewpoints

Visa’s Blog – Visa Viewpoints

PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL CURRENCY

May 9, 2012

Financial Inclusion

Celebrating 10 Years of Banking the Unbanked

Ten years ago today the world’s first mobile financial service in a developing economy went live. Launched by Celpay in Zambia in 2002, and powered by Fundamo, a Visa company, the pioneering service ushered in a movement that has revolutionized the way financial services reach unbanked and under-banked populations.

As the mobile financial services community celebrates 10 years of banking the unbanked, we wanted to take a moment at Visa to recognize the progress that has been made. In 10 years, 100 million people have been newly “banked” using mobile technology. That forecast is expected to double over the next two years.

Celpay International now provides mobile financial services to consumers and corporate customers. Since its launch, Celpay has processed in excess of $2 billion in mobile payments, expanded into Zimbabwe and Uganda, and counts global brands such as SABMiller, Total and BP as customers.

Those numbers underscore the importance of the work Visa is doing in developing economies to expand the opportunities mobile offers. Visa and Fundamo now offer consumers new payment types and services that are secure and interoperable with existing closed-loop mobile money services. New payment types included global and domestic remittances, eCommerce purchases, and ATM withdrawals.

Most importantly, today’s milestone gives us the chance not only to look back on successes, but also forward to the opportunities ahead. Today, 2.5 billion adults lack access to formal financial services, and have to piece together an array of costly, risky, and inconvenient cash-based options.

While the last 10 years have seen tremendous progress, our hope is that 10 years from today we’ll celebrate even greater momentum.

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Posted by: Hannes Van Rensburg, Head of Fundamo on May 9, 2012 at 11:42 am

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Financial Inclusion, Mobile
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Apr 25, 2012

VISA RECOGNIZED FOR INVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Note: Today, Visa is being honored with the inaugural Corporate Award presented by the U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation. The following is a guest submission from Daniel W. Yohannes, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Since 2004, the Millennium Challenge Corporation has been leading the fight against global poverty. As an innovative and independent U.S. development assistance agency, we are changing the conversation on how best to deliver smart assistance by focusing on good policies, country-owned development solutions and results. Our success rests in large part on our ability to forge successful partnerships for sustainable development. This means partnering with countries around the world, civil society, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and other government agencies.

One lesson we know for sure: Assistance alone is not enough. What will be enough to tip the scale toward sustainable growth is the innovation and investment driven by the private sector. The private sector creates jobs and new products. The private sector is where entrepreneurs are born and thrive. And, the growth, investment, trade, and business generated by the private sector will help lift people out of poverty.

Today, the Millennium Challenge Corporation convenes our first Forum on Global Development. This will be a unique occasion for visionaries and practitioners in international development to meet, exchange ideas and honor three outstanding awardees for their work on gender integration, investment and innovation.

On behalf of MCC, I am proud that we will recognize Visa as the recipient of our first Corporate Award for demonstrating exemplary commitment to eradicating poverty in the developing world. We are impressed with Visa’s commitment to advancing financial inclusion by leveraging its core business along with innovation, strategic partnerships and financial literacy. We applaud Visa’s public-private partnership with the Government of Rwanda, including the extensive Charter of Collaboration as well as partnerships with organizations such as Women’s World Banking and GSMA mWomen, to advance financial access for women and their efforts to bring financial literacy education to millions of people worldwide.

In the global fight against financial exclusion and poverty, no single organization has all the answers. But through innovative solutions from—and partnerships among—governments, the private sector and civil society, we are making a difference.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation funds country-led solutions for reducing poverty through sustainable economic growth. 

U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin presents Visa with the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Corporate Award

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Posted by: Daniel W. Yohannes, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation on April 25, 2012 at 7:54 am

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Financial Inclusion
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Apr 12, 2012

FROM UNDER THE MATTRESS AND INTO A BANK: INCREASING FINANCIAL ACCESS FOR WOMEN IN NIGERIA

Provisions seller in Nigeria 

Today, Visa’s Chairman and CEO, Joe Saunders, joined with the President and CEO of Women’s World Banking to announce that our two organizations are partnering to advance financial inclusion for women in Nigeria. As part of the announcement, they shared their perspectives in an editorial in the Huffington Post about how financial inclusion can help transform the lives of women in emerging markets.

Nearly 2.5 billion people – almost half the world’s adult population – do not have access to formal financial services. Without basic payments and savings accounts, money often is kept in cash under the mattress then moved around from person to person, drastically increasing the risk of theft or loss. Even a task as simple as paying a bill – in person and via cash – can be unsafe, costly and time-consuming. The implications of this financial exclusion are significant and far-reaching, reinforcing the cycle of poverty and slowing economic progress.

In emerging economies around the world, this can be a particular challenge for women. In Nigeria, for example, nearly 77 percent of women lack access to financial services.  Yet, they often serve as the primary financial managers in most families, expected to stretch meager and irregular incomes to meet daily household needs, not to mention long-term budgeting for life’s unexpected shocks.

 The initiative in Nigeria that was announced today will help provide women there with an opportunity to become economically and socially empowered through access to a savings account.

Read more about the Visa and Women’s World Banking initiative.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on April 12, 2012 at 7:31 am

Category: Currency of Progress, Financial Inclusion, Partnerships
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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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Feb 23, 2012

Guest Blog: Kiva and a Future of Financial Inclusion

By Premal Shah, President, Kiva.org.

More than 2.5 billion people around the world have no access to financial services. They can’t open a bank account, take out a loan or save securely — basic services that many take for granted. As a result, they are denied much more, including the ability to cushion themselves against financial uncertainties, act on a desire to start a business, send their children to school, or simply plan for a better future for themselves and their families.

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Posted by: Premal Shah, President, Kiva on February 23, 2012 at 6:00 am

Category: Benefits of Digital Currency, Financial Inclusion, Technology & Innovation
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Dec 7, 2011

Creating Opportunities for Mexico’s Underserved

If seeing is believing, then my recent trip to Mexico re-opened my eyes to the real benefits of digital currency, particularly in the lives of low-income families around the world. During a whirlwind four-day trip, we captured the experience of Angélica Cruz Romero, who receives her government benefits on the Oportunidades Visa card, as part of the Currency of Progress video series.

Angélica lives in a modest home on the outskirts of San Juan del Rio, a city of 120,000 people in the state of Querétaro. She is one of millions of formerly unbanked or under-banked Mexican consumers who receives social benefits on a prepaid debit card that keeps her money safe and can be used anywhere Visa is accepted.

As part of the visit, we also interviewed Bernardo González, general associate director of Bansefi, the government-owned issuer of the Visa card. In the coming months, Bansefi aims to include all 6.5 million beneficiaries in the Visa debit card program as part of its long-term goal to reduce poverty by bringing more Mexicans into the formal financial system.  “This is absolute[ly] the door to financial inclusion,” he said.

For Angélica, receiving funds electronically gives her peace-of-mind, flexibility and the promise of a better life for her family. I’m very optimistic because I’m taking my children on the right path,” she said. “And this program has helped me a lot because I am heading in the right direction where I wasn’t before.”

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Posted by: Richard Martin, Visa Corporate Relations on December 7, 2011 at 3:58 pm

Category: Currency of Progress, Debit, Financial Inclusion, Prepaid
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Dec 4, 2011

Delivering Electronic Financial Services in Africa

Greetings from Rwanda.

I am delighted to be posting this blog from Kigali, Rwanda where, along-side Ambassador Claver Gatete, Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, we just announced a new public-private partnership between Visa and the Government of Rwanda to electronify financial services.

Why have we entered into this partnership and what is it all about?

At Visa, we believe that everyone has a right to access basic financial and payment services.  And over the past six months, we have been working closely with the Government of Rwanda to forge a partnership to accelerate the delivery of such services to the Rwandan population.

Today, we are proud to share an overview of our collective labors: a Charter of Collaboration aimed at developing localized solutions to extend access to financial services to local and international consumers throughout the country.

The Charter of Collaboration encompasses 12 initiatives structured around three key areas identified by the Government of Rwanda and Visa as vital to the development of a fully-inclusive financial system:

Laying the Foundations for Electronic Payments – We have committed to working together to develop the basic infrastructure requirements which will enable country-wide use of electronic payments.  This means facilitating the widespread issuance and acceptance of payment cards and the localization of clearing and settlement services.

Promoting Electronic Payments Innovation –Secondly, we have agreed to work to ensure that Rwanda can take advantage of modern technologies to reach Rwandans who are under-served by traditional payments infrastructure.  I expect mobile payments to be a big part of this solution and we’ll talk more about that in the coming months.

Capacity Building –Finally, building a robust electronic payment infrastructure requires more than products and technology.  To ensure long-term economic success, we have committed to delivering a coordinated and sustained program of capacity building.  This will comprise a range of initiatives designed to increase financial literacy and provide industry training and experience for local Rwandans.

You can see the detail of the Charter itself by following this link.

Public-private partnership is a cornerstone of Rwanda’s approach to development.  It is also a key component of Visa’s global growth strategy as well.  To me, this Charter has all the makings of a classic win-win and we’ll be certain to keep you informed of progress

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Posted by: Elizabeth Buse, Visa Group President, Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East & Africa on December 4, 2011 at 9:00 pm

Category: Financial Inclusion, Partnerships, Products & Services, Technology & Innovation
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Nov 30, 2011

VISA JOINS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO HELP CLOSE THE MOBILE PHONE GENDER GAP

Visa is proud to join a new partnership to improve the lives of women in developing countries. Announced today, the GSMA mWomen Global Development Alliance brings Visa together with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and GSMA Foundation in a partnership to close the gender gap in access to mobile phones and the life-enhancing services they can provide. The partnership’s goals include reducing the mobile phone gender gap by 50% and enabling an additional 150 million underserved women in developing countries to own and effectively use mobile phones and their services, including mobile financial services.

Today, half the world’s adult population—2.5 billion people—lacks access to basic financial services. An estimated 70% of the financially underserved are women. Being financially excluded means relying on cash, where a simple task like paying a bill or receiving money from a family member can be risky, costly and time consuming. Financial exclusion also reinforces the cycle of poverty and slows economic growth. And women in developing economies often bear the greater burden of these impacts.

Mobile technology already is demonstrating the potential to change that. By 2012, 1.7 billion people are expected to own a mobile phone but will not have a bank account. Around the world, we already have begun to see the power that mobile technology can have in extending the reach of digital currency, providing the unbanked with tools for payments and other life-enhancing financial services and bringing new participants into the global financial system. This is, in part, why Visa has been investing in mobile, including our recent acquisition of Fundamo and the launch a new product tailored to the needs of consumers in developing countries— a prepaid account that can be accessed through a simple menu on a mobile phone.

Yet, while mobile financial services offer an unparalleled opportunity to advance financial inclusion, there is a global gender gap in mobile phone ownership and usage, with women 21 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than a man. The only way mobile will help improve the lives of women at the base of the pyramid is if we work to close the mobile phone gender gap.

The partnership announced today further strengthens our commitment to advancing financial inclusion not only through product innovation, but also by partnering with some of the world’s leading organizations to better understand the challenges of the financially underserved, share our payments expertise and support programs that deliver basic financial services. We look forward to sharing developments from this partnership as it progresses.

For more information and the official press release, click here.

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Posted by: Douglas Sabo, Visa Corporate Responsibility on November 30, 2011 at 6:34 am

Category: Financial Inclusion, Mobile, Partnerships
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