I was sent this email by partner Teilo and wanted to share it:
In one country, as part of a ubiquitous custom called “five–six” lending, poor people borrow five pesos from informal lenders and repay six, usually within a week. The annual interest rate works out at roughly 13,000 percent.

This is hardly the only place where low-income people suffer from a lack of choices and information. Their options have been limited because legitimate companies have been reluctant to enter the markets that serve them.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Strategy/A_grassroots_approach_to_emerging-market_consumers_1866_abstract

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Financial_Services/Personal_Financial_Services/Extending_financial_services_to_Latin_Americas_poor_1955_abstract

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Financial_Services/Banking/Financing_Latin_Americas_low-income_consumers_1956_abstract?gp=1

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Financial_Services/Banking/Succeeding_in_Latin_American_banking_An_interview_with_Banco_Itaus_CEO_1868_abstract?gp=1

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Business, Social Welfare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.