In the United States, young military personnel and their families often put themselves at financial risk through relationships with pay day lenders that charge very high interest rates for small loans and that benefit from the soldiers' limited financial knowledge. Financial Ideas piloted an innovative technology solution that allowed credit decisions for these clients to be made electronically. These e-credit scores were paired with financial literacy training and referrals from accredited partners to make final lending decisions. Although pilot efforts suggested success, Financial Ideas entered the market shortly after the global financial crisis of 2008, and ultimately were not able to weather the storm. More...

In Kenya, Sevak Solutions was the founding member of a consortium that also included Paynet Kenya and the Kenya Commercial Bank. The three companies came together to respond to the Social Protection Payment Challenge. After receiving a grant award, consortium members began developing the financial products, agent models, and technology solutions that could enable the Kenyan government to send money to the homeless and disadvantaged more easily and economically.More...

The first initiative, the Remote Transaction System (RTS) was begun prior to the founding of Sevak Solutions when one of the founders worked at the Hewlett-Packard Company. A point-of-sale and smart card solution was piloted in three different microfinance institutions, each of which used the solution with a different business model. The agent model piloted at Uganda Microfinance Limited proved to be the most successful. When Sevak Solutions was spun out of Hewlett-Packard, the founding team returned to Uganda to learn more about the details of the model. More...

Explore the RTS Archives for the complete history, financial analysis, documentation, and training materials related to the original RTS pilot.