Demographics

Financial institutions need to move beyond brochures and classes if they are serious about improving their customers' financial capability, and they are well positioned to do so.

As the head of one of the nation's largest microlenders, Gina Harman is leading the charge to expand the availability of credit to underserved communities in this country.

Tri Tax of San Pedro, Calif., is offering a debit card for customers to receive tax refunds and paycheck deposits, which the tax-preparation franchisor called a draw for underbanked consumers.

Over the past 20 years, a range of companies have been steadily making a grab for businesses that had once been the purview of banks.

Among the nearly 26 million small firms in the United States, about two-thirds do not have business bank accounts, according to a Javelin Strategy and Research report released last year.

The regulatory crackdown on refund-anticipation loans is poised to redistribute market share from one tax preparer and its bank partner to their rivals.

Bankers formerly with large institutions are finding opportunities at smaller banks, particularly after their former employers failed or were merged into other companies.

The Internal Revenue Service, as part of its plan to regulate tax preparers on the federal level, said it will examine refund-anticipation loans and other tax-time financial products, just as banking regulators crack down on some of the few financial institutions that still fund such loans.

Anyone who has seen advertisements from Visa Inc.'s "Currency of Progress" campaign can't help noticing a stark contrast in its corporate message.

If the checking account's loss has been the prepaid card's gain, new overdraft regulations could kick that trend into overdrive.

Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. work force but are also among the least inclined to take advantage of employer-sponsored retirement plans, and that poses problems for plan providers.

The developing world has further to go than the United States to raise rates of financial inclusion and operates in a context of more extreme poverty. Yet developing countries are succeeding.

The FDIC provided new insight Wednesday on the vast segment of the country that lacks a meaningful relationship with a bank, releasing a study that showed one in four families go elsewhere for financial services.

In retrospect, not getting a bank charter two years ago may have been one of the best things to happen to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s financial services agenda.

The Center for Financial Services Innovation, a nonprofit affiliate of ShoreBank Corp. in Chicago, has launched an effort to lobby policymakers on behalf of underserved consumers.

The prepaid card marketer FSV Payment Systems Inc. is offering people savings accounts tied to its cards.

Receiving income by direct deposit has several benefits and, more importantly, it enables more people to use the types of financial services that improve financial prosperity.

James Gutierrez, chief executive of Progress Financial in San Jose, believes he has found the key to reaching unbanked Hispanics — credit.

The eBillme payment service now allows people to pay for online purchases at walk-in locations, inviting the unbanked to use a system that until now has targeted online banking customers.

The merchant lobby is waging an aggressive, inflammatory and effective campaign for government intervention while the payments industry makes a monumental mistake not engaging consumers.