Global strategies to overcome the spiral of decline in universal bank markets

Although there has been an increase in the overall financial services market, the profitability of banks world-wide has decreased from the early 1980s to the 1990s. This has been attributed to several factors: the decline of traditional banking activities (deposit taking and lending); poorly performing debts (arising from poor lending decisions); and, for domestic banks, depressed property prices and important local industrial sectors performing badly. However, the analyses of bank performance tend to be short-term and narrow in their outlook, and seldom attempt to explain the underlying trends and processes of change. In this paper it is argued that the broad competitive forces of information technology, globalisation and deregulation are destabilising the banking industry leading to irrevocable changes which allow new entrants, disintermediation, innovation and customer changes on a much greater scale than has occurred in the past. These concepts are illustrated using a range of different bank markets as examples. To compete in these new markets different approaches are needed, and a series of possible strategies for addressing new bank markets are outlined with reference to size and type of bank. The long-term outlook for banking is discussed with particular attention being focussed on the changing role of universal banks

Tackling Ultra-Poverty Through the Graduation Approach: Situating Sustainable Livelihoods in the Landscape of Social Protection and Safety Nets

BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 and now works in nine other countries with very impoverished populations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Philippines, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia. From its years of experience designing and implementing microfinance and other programs, BRAC gained the insight that a unique set of interventions is required to bring out of extreme poverty those who they, and now others, call the "ultra-poor": people living on half or less of a US $1.25-a-day poverty threshold. BRAC pioneered the approach in 2002 by combining social safety nets with support for income-generating, and named it the Graduation approach, or Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) program. Graduation programs complement small cash stipends and in-kind asset transfers with several other sequenced interventions including savings, training, social integration and health care services. Over the last decade the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the Ford Foundation, and other donors have supported ten pilots across different continents which have been carefully analyzed, and in which over 75% of participants have met Graduation requirements. This paper summarizes the landscape and institutional context within which the Targeting the Ultra-poor program sits, in order to help BRAC and other organizations to expand its scale and encourage others to support and adopt this approach, thereby helping an additional one million families graduate from ultra-poverty by 2020

How cash transfers promote the case for basic income

There has long been a minority view that providing people with cash is an effective way of combating poverty and economic insecurity while promoting livelihoods and work. The mainstream view has nevertheless been that giving people money, without conditions or obligations, promotes idleness and dependency, while being unnecessarily costly. This paper reviews recent evidence on various types of schemes implemented in developing countries, including several pilot cash transfer schemes, assessing them by reference to principles of social justice. It concludes that experience with cash transfers is strengthening the case for a universal basic income

Standardized Payment Procedures as Key Enabling Factor for Mobile Commerce

Companies are not going to invest into the development of innovative applications or services unless these can be charged for appropriately. Thus, the existence of standardized and widely accepted mobile payment procedures is crucial for successful business-to-customer mobile commerce. In this paper we reflect on the acceptance of mobile payment and examine the characteristics of current mobile payment procedures. The outcomes of the paper are a categorization of current mobile payment procedures with strategic, participation and operational criteria and, based on these results, the derivation of the five mobile payment standard types prepaid, mobile money, conventional settlement, premium rate number and dual-card. Finally, a prospect is given to possible further development of mobile payment procedures in the direction of an integrative universal mobile payment system (UMPS).

Just give money to the poor

Poverty is increasing and deepening in Mozambique and the gap between the poorest half of the population and the better off half is widening, despite the rapid rise in GDP and the impressive expansion of roads, electricity and schools. Cash transfers may offer a way to pull poor Mozambicans out of the poverty trap

STATUS OF CHECKOUT TECHNOLOGY

The author describes the various types of computerized checkout systems available and the relative merits of these systems.Agribusiness,