The Sixth Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum held on June 8-10, 2011 provided an occasion to discuss the ideas, technology, partnerships and policies that are transforming the market. The conference, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, brought together leaders from diverse institutions and ...

Underbanked consumers need minute-to-minute information about their finances, and mobile financial services (MFS) are well suited to deliver it. Although these consumers often have insufficient access to financial services, their access to mobile phones is fairly widespread. This disparity suggests a large ...

Millions of underbanked Americans have found prepaid cards an effective way to meet their basic financial services needs. But functionality and ease of use are not the only important factors in the widespread adoption of prepaid cards. Consumers also need to be ...

Recommendations for Asset Building

The financial crisis and economic downturn have reshaped the financial services landscape. While these events have by no means run their course, it’s critical to start looking ahead. Over the past year, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) ...

MAKING THE SHIFT FROM FINANCIAL EDUCATION TO FINANCIAL CAPABILITY: Evidence from the Financial Capability Innovation Fund

The need for new ideas to improve Americans’ financial capability has been evident throughout the recent recession. Never before have Americans been so highly motivated to improve their financial behavior. At the same time, many people ...

All kinds of organizations and institutions play influential roles in the lives of young people. This presents these organizations with an opportunity to promote the development of young peoples' financial capability. Click below to download the research paper and accompanying inBrief. Depending ...

In June 2010, CFSI held its 5th annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum in Miami, Florida. As in years past, the Forum brought together a diverse array of stakeholders within the underbanked marketplace for three days of rich and insightful discussion. With noticeable ...

The Nonprofit’s Guide to Prepaid Cards is designed for nonprofits focused on consumer finance issues to build general awareness around prepaid cards and provide the tools and resources needed by nonprofits to start to incorporate prepaid into their programming. This guide was made possible ...

This paper outlines a federal policy proposal to create a scaleable, credible, and safe financial product to enable millions of households to affordably transact, save and build wealth. Research by academics, behavioral economists, policy makers, and the financial services sector have brought ...