financial inclusion

Mastercard: Serving The Financial Needs Of The ‘New Middle Class’

Welcome to the middle class! Congratulations, you made it! Good luck getting approved for a credit card with that low or nonexistent...

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Earnings

PayPal Reaffirms Its Commitment To Financial Inclusion

There was a lot going on during PayPal’s quarterly earnings report yesterday (April 25), as the original “Pay” player managed to beat analyst...

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Personnel

Mastercard Names Former US Trade Rep In New Role Focused On Growth

Mastercard announced news that former United States Trade Representative Michael Froman will join the company as vice chairman and president of strategic...

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Financial Inclusion: Accelerated, Collaborative, Mobile and Global

There are billions of unbanked individuals in the world. Given access to basic financial services via mobile and other technological conduits, quality...

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Loans

Grab And Credit Saison Launch Consumer Financing JV

Grab, the ride-hailing company based in Southeast Asia, announced news on Tuesday (March 13) that it has teamed up with Credit Saison...

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Mastercard: The Inclusive Futures Of Cities, SMBs And The Next-Gen Workforce

What is a common need among a gig worker seeking a second stream of income, an SMB looking to grow their business in an...

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Regulation

Trump Administration Eyes Major CRA Overhaul

The Trump administration is proposing major changes to the Community Reinvestment Act — a law first enacted in 1977 — that experts believe...

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Mastercard: Micro Businesses Can Move Financial Inclusion’s Largest Roadblocks

Promoting financial inclusion — a lofty ambition targeting two billion people around the world who currently live without the ability to securely send...

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Startups

Juvo Raises $40 Million To Expand Into New Markets

Juvo, the San Francisco tech startup that focuses on financial inclusion and helps unbanked consumers in emerging markets improve their standing from...

4.1K

Unifund CEO Consumer Credit Caution: “Time To Stop Getting Lost In The Averages”

Credit, and the consumer’s relationship with it, has changed rather dramatically over time. But those changes can only be seen if one...

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API

Mastercard Taps APIs With An Eye Beyond Plastic

After decades of focus on plastic cards, Mastercard has turned its attention to the potential of APIs to expand its services and reach. For...

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API

NEW REPORT: For Mastercard, Are APIs More Priceless Than Plastic?

Could APIs be the great payment equalizers? One major payment company is ready to take that chance in an effort to expand...

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India’s Grand (De) Monetization Experiment

Eight months in, assessing the impact of what happens when you remove 86 percent of a country’s notes in circulation. India’s push...

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A Local Approach To The Universal Challenge Of SME Finance

From the U.S. to Mexico to India to sub-Saharan Africa, SMEs’ need for access to capital is universal. What differs across geographic...

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MoneyGram, Ant And Making The “Unbanked’s Bank”

On Tuesday, MoneyGram’s shareholders gave an unequivocal thumbs up to the buyout by Ant Financial. With one more hurdle yet to clear, CFIUS approval, MoneyGram...

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Fresh EBT’s Social Safety Net Tech Upgrade

It’s a set of statistics that all of us have heard many times before: In the U.S., nearly half of the population...

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Ecosystems

Using The Blockchain To Bring Banking To Everyone

Refugees are among the most unique groups of people for whom to enable mobile payments and other financial services. Clearly an acute...

3.8K

Analysts Pinpoint Payroll Cards’ Weaknesses (And Surprising Strengths)

The payroll card industry is far from immune to controversy. Especially in recent years, regulators have eyed the space amid waves of...

4.6K

Partnerships / Acquisitions

Mastercard’s New President Of Operations And Technology On Payment’s ‘Third Wave’

Mastercard today announced the appointment of CIO Ed McLaughlin to president, Operations and Technology. In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, McLaughlin...

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Cash

ATM Trade Group Pushes Back On The War On Cash

The ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) has spoken out against the efforts of the anti-cash lobby. ATMIA recently presented the results of a...

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Safety and Security

IEEE Pushes Digital Identity Standard

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, announced in a press release the launch of a...

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Mobile Applications

UK Banking App Pockit Gets £2.9M In Funds As It Launches New Remittance Service

Pockit, a mobile banking app targeting the U.K.’s underbanked, has picked up £2.9 million in additional funding and will soon launch a...

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Payment Methods

Zeta Inks Deal With RuPay In India For Meal Voucher Solution

Zeta, the FinTech startup that offers digital employee benefits for tax optimization, announced Tuesday (April 11) has inked a deal with National...

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FICO Announces Partnership with Operation HOPE and 200M Open Access Accounts

Analytics software company FICO’s latest strategic partnership expands its credit score capability offerings to a new audience. The company announced this week...

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Amazon

Amazon’s Cash Play

As of yesterday (April 3), Amazon is open for business for cash-only customers — via 10,000 physical locations where a consumer can deposit...

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Alternative Finances

LendUp’s Focus On The “New Average” Consumer

For a lot of Americans, mainstream financial services represent a menu full of goods that aren’t desirable, aren’t affordable or just aren’t...

4.3K

Making Algorithms Play Fair

Every day the average American consumer comes into contact with hundreds — if not thousands — of algorithmically powered experiences. The ads one sees...

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Mobile Applications

PaySwag Integrates Sionic Mobile’s ICE To Provide Mobile App For Underbanked

Sionic Mobile and Customer Engagement Technologies (CET) are partnering up to provide a mobile payment app for the underbanked, according to Finextra....

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Digital Banking

Integrating Iris Scanning Biometrics With An Eye On Banking Inclusion

Can new technology bring new customers into the digital banking fold? For the March Digital Banking Tracker™, PYMNTS spoke with Narendranath Mishra,...

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Digital Banking

NEW REPORT: Why Indian Banks And Iris Biometrics See Eye-to-Eye

As banking becomes more digital, more financial institutions are turning to technological solutions to bring more customers on board. Several banks are...

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How Micro-Businesses Fit Into Mastercard’s Smart Cities Vision

Mastercard has several plans in the works to target half a billion people around the world who fall outside the realm of the...

5.3K

Mastercard, Unilever Give Emerging Market SMEs A Boost

Mastercard and Unilever have paired up to help small businesses in emerging markets. The companies said Wednesday (March 1) that their collaboration...

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Mastercard And The Future Of Financial Inclusion

There are only a few things that most people can agree on these days, notes Mastercard. One of them is that too...

3.2K

India’s Real-Time Look At Moving Cash To Digital

Taking 86 percent of notes of circulation late last year has brought a tipping point to India’s digital payments activity. In the...

10.5K

Financial Inclusion, Across Channels, Countries And Choice

Moving money across borders takes time, effort and attention to detail — with a focus on local technology and culture. Though the...

4.1K

Mastercard Continues B2B Focus In Middle East

Mastercard has invested significantly in the Middle East, home to a blossoming FinTech scene. Most recently, the credit card company struck a...

3.2K

Mastercard Powers Cashless Efficiency In Kenya

Mastercard is partnering with the local government in Kenya to help address the growing problem of citizens having to move from place...

4.7K

Increased ATM Usage Fueled By Financial Inclusion

A new report from research firm RBR revealed a strong demand for ATM services in developing markets, most notably in Asia-Pacific and...

3.6K

What ‘Unscorable’ Consumers Really Look Like

While credit scores, or the lack thereof, tell lenders a lot about consumers, the traditional credit scoring models don’t always provide a...

credit-scoring-financial-inclusion-identity-verification

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Financial Inclusion Via Digital Identity

Better addressing the unbanked and underbanked has the potential to change the fortunes of financial firms — if only they are allowed...

1.7K

Boosting Financial Inclusion, And GDP, For The Have-Nots

The emergence of financial technology has been changing the way we do business, pay bills and even extend money to friends and...

3.8K

Startup Offers Financial Services For X-Border Students

FinTech startup SelfScore, which launched the first dedicated Mastercard credit card designed exclusively for international students in the U.S., announced the closing...

6.4K

Security & Fraud

Digital Identity’s Call For Democracy

While FinTech’s current focus is creating and securing a consumer’s digital identity, nearly 40 percent of all adults living in the world...

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Security & Fraud

Bringing Democracy To Digital Identity

While FinTech’s current focus is creating and securing a consumer’s digital identity, nearly 40 percent of all adults living in the world...

DaVincian Healthcare Reaching Underserved

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Tapping Mobile Technology To Expand Health Care Access

For millions of underbanked people around the world, health care can be a service that seems unattainable. But mobile technology is changing...

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MasterCard’s Push To Innovate Humanitarian Aid

Funding for humanitarian services reached an all-time high last year, but unfortunately, there is still a severe gap between the aid available...

Digital money adoption spurs financial inclusion

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Financial Inclusion In A Cashless World

Look no further than a mobile device, in-store payment terminal or even the latest wearable device to experience firsthand how advancing technologies...