Bankloch

As the world faces unprecedented numbers of refugees (from countries like Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Venezuela…​), it is more important than ever to find structural solutions to improve the financial inclusion of this group, helping them to rebuild their lives and integrate them into their new communities. Unfortunately,   traditional financial institutions often fail to serve the needs of refugees , leaving them with few options for managing their financials. In this blog, I try to give an idea of the typical issues with the financial sector refugees are facing and how innovative technology and Fintechs can (partially) address these financial barriers. At the start of the Ukrainian refugee wave, many Fintechs stepped in to help Ukrainian refugees and to collect and donate money to Ukrainian charity organizations. Revolut was one of the front-runners in this Fintech support-wave (Revolut’s cofounder and CTO Vlad Yatsenko is Ukrainian, so they are well positioned to under...

Taking on debt is not necessarily a bad thing   (as long as the debt is used for things to generate wealth), but in the current cost-of-living crisis debt can easily   spiral out of control . With an ever-increasing number of people struggling to pay their bills and pay back their debts, problematic debt is a major concern. Unfortunately   admitting to debt problems is still a taboo . As a result debtors rarely seek support for their financial difficulties before it is too late. At the same time creditors also struggle to find the right balance of dealing with this issue in both the credit origination and debt collection process. In the credit origination process creditors are expected to be inclusive and offer credit as much as possible, but at the same time creditors should be sustainable (i.e. apply Responsible Borrowing) and not push people into debt. Combine this with the fact that a creditor is still a business wanting to make money and you get a very slippery slope...