Financial Inclusion & Credit Access & Post Office Banking: What You Need to Know
Financial Inclusion & Credit Access & Post Office Banking: What You Need to Know
Setting up banking at US post office branches sounds like a simple fix to improve financial inclusion. What are the real challenges and opportunities to increase access to credit?
Photo by Elizabeth Kay on Unsplash
In the last few months, I’ve posted 3 issues in which I do a deep dive & analyze the idea that floats around banking and political circles: creating banks in or adding banking services to US Post Office branches.
Post Office Banking: Return to Sender. What do the under and unbanked people need? Do they need more basic banking services like checking and savings accounts? Debit or credit cards? Check cashing? Don’t they use fintechs and other alternatives to banks? Turns out, there’s a hidden tribe of people and SMBs who have lost access to credit.
Many Challenges for Post Office-based Banking and Payments. Other countries have used post offices to successfully deliver banking and payment services and the USPS has post office branches everywhere. Why isn’t the US Postal Service a good choice for delivering banking, payments and credit services? The USPS has many significant challenges itself. These challenges include aging branch facilities that are often understaffed and have reduced service hours and poor management of its money order payment product.
Opportunities for Financial Institutions to Deliver Credit Access. But there’s hope - and opportunity for financial institutions of all kinds and sizes to improve access to credit - in urban, rural, and suburban areas. Many FIs probably already participate in the existing alternatives available for credit. New ideas need only banker willingness to innovate and pivot just a little.
Want more help, advice, analysis or consultation about these or other topics, trends, strategies? Contact me.
Me, Elsewhere
I moderated a great panel of folks for a conversation on innovation. We cut through the hype and share practical advice for making your digital transformation efforts pay off. We definitely talked about the importance of small innovations.
How can banks be truly low friction? They must address friction everywhere. Otherwise innovation & digital transformation will elude them. In this report I identified the characteristic of a low friction bank and why legacy core banking and architectures don’t support it.
What can the Kardashians teach your financial institution about partnerships and innovation? How can working with empathic fintechs help you identify niche groups (aka hidden tribes) and innovate. All this and more in this this ebook that you can download at Praxent or Nymbus.
Adopt an Agile Digital Banking Platform: How bankers must have an agile digital banking platform to support both global and local trends and requirements to help them identify new niche markets that will drive innovation, create new value and increase profitability. In this report I identified a set of capabilities that a digital banking platform must have that will help take banks into a competitive future and urges banks to select a digital banking partner who shares their innovation, vision and support for new value creation.
How Your Financial Institution Can Leverage Niche Markets for Next-Level Growth: New thinking on old models brings new ways for banks and credit unions to deliver new products and services to new niche customer markets. I moderated a vibrant discussion about this & more with Jeffery Kendall, Chairman and CEO, Nymbus and Tim Hamilton, CEO of Praxent.
Think like a Challenger: How banks and credit unions can compete and win - I recently moderated this conversation on challenger banks with Bryan Clagett of Moven and Ted Brown of Digital Onboarding.
Yes, I worked with clients on these ebooks and webinars. They may ask you for information before you can download or watch them.
How can I help you?
To collaborate with me on a similar project or something else completely different, please contact me at stessa@pivotassets.co or via LinkedIn.
I’m also available for inquiry and strategy sessions via Third Eye Advisory.
Who writes PivotAssets?
I’m an independent analyst, strategic advisor & consultant (& a former Gartner analyst). I’ve worked in and covered the banking industry for over 2 decades. I write about digital banking in this newsletter - not to confirm what you know (and you are plenty smart!) but to give you a fresh perspective & analysis on the transformation that is —and isn’t happening - in the industry.