CFSI awards pioneers in efforts to reach the unbanked

September 18, 2005

CHICAGO - The Center for Financial Services Innovation announced last week its nonprofit grant recipients for 2005.

The recipients include:

Appleseed Foundation will research the transparency of foreign exchange-rate markups charged for remittances, after which it is expected to launch a fair exchange branding campaign.
The Center for Community Change will select and pilot a stored-value card solution pilot to unbanked workers across the nation.
Central Vermont Community Action Council and Association for Enterprise Opportunity will research and implement a method to integrate microlending data into the established credit system.
The Urban Insurance Partners Institute has accepted a challenge grant to apply new analytical tools to non-traditional insurance data and prototype improved urban underwriting practices.

CFSI also is expected to release a white paper about industry trends focused on reaching the unbanked and underbanked. Read more.

CFSI expects to invest in "promising" for-profit companies as well. For more information, please visit CFSI's site.

CFSI's grant program is supported by the Ford Foundation.