Filed under: community services, financial services, innovation | Tags: bartering, california IOU, contactless payment, financial services, foamee, mobile banking, rosca, second market, susu account
photo via foamee
There’s plenty of talk in the financial services world about the future of mobile banking and the ongoing development of contactless payment technologies (I’m dying for the day I can just wave my phone to pay for stuff so I no longer have to carry a purse.) But as California turned to the old-fashioned IOU to mitigate its budget crisis, it made me think of a few stories I came across about informal economies that were worth sharing. These are often found in poorer countries where traditional financial instruments and government support of banks is limited. We’re all familiar with checking accounts and credit cards, and maybe even the additional bartering going on thanks to the economy, but perhaps you’d like to learn about:
- ROSCAs (rotating savings and credit associations) where groups of people contribute to a common fund and take turns receiving a big payment from it. NPR’s Planet Money covered how some cultures use this vehicle to help pay for extremely expensive burials
- Susu account – similar to a ROSCA, these are individual savings accounts maintained by roving collectors, mostly in Ghana
- Second Market – a new business looking to help recipients of California’s new IOUs get cash now by connecting them with more liquid investors looking for a small return.
- Bank of Happiness – trading favors for karma in Estonia
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