2016/04  Thanks to Innovate Finance, we participated and exhibited in the Financial Inclusion section at the Global Summit 2016 as the first Japanese company.

One of the big themes of this summit was about how we can utilize FinTech to tackle the refugee problem.

Since refugees do not have an ID, it is difficult to open a bank account and have a payment card. There could be the case when they cannot wait salary until the payday. At that time, if they use our Payming service that allows individuals to spend up to the earned salary that they have worked, they will be able to buy food. Payming is expected to prevent us from borrowing money at high interest rate and commit a crime.

Aslo, 3 out of 4 adults in the world do not have a bank account. Can we advance into financial inclusion for unbanked people? The Bill & Melinda Foundation held a workshop for this theme, so that we also participated in the workshop.

In developing countries such as Africa, Central and South America and Asia, bank itself does not exist. Even if bank exists, bank may be too far from home or need account maintenance fees, so that many of them do not choose to have a bank account.

Without a bank account, we cannot use remittance and card payment. Also, if the person has cash, there is a risk of being involved in the crime. It is very serious problem.

M-Pesa is born in Africa. Over 80% of adults have mobile phone, and mobile payment and remittance is quickly spread to Africa, the Middle East, and India. This seems to be the origin of FinTech. If our pay-as-you-earn service Payming is connected to these system, it is expected to enhance the KYC process and to solve money laundering issues.