A provocative and heartening look at a revolution in financial services.
A detailed account of how new technologies are helping people excluded from traditional financial services, resulting in large-scale industry disruption.
About 2.5 billion people—half the world’s adult population—are effectively excluded from financial institutions and instruments largely taken for granted by the other half. For the poorest population, this means that even the simplest tasks—cashing a paycheck, sending a remittance to a family member, applying for a small loan, etc.—are either impossible or prohibitively expensive. Oftentimes, merely opening a bank account is daunting due to the onerous deposit requirements or demands for multiple identification documents. The modern banking world is built like a pyramid: cheap and effective for those who comfortably reside at the top and predatory for those stuck at the bottom. Debut authors Mehta and Realini, both veteran entrepreneurs with backgrounds in financial-services innovation, depict the plight of these “financial nomads” addled with practical burdens, not to mention their regular indignities. The good news is that sophisticated alternatives—especially ones built on easily accessible mobile platforms—now offer much needed relief. The authors discuss several specific programs that have already become widely adopted in places like Kenya, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. Not only are these systems achieving great success, they are also compelling a sea change within the all-too-exclusionary banking sector. The book includes a discussion of practical ways to improve financial inclusiveness, like revising an antiquated system for formulating credit scores worldwide. The more sweeping argument the authors make is that these looming changes will not only benefit the poorest, but will generally stimulate economic growth and encourage increased governmental transparency. This is an impressively lucid work that necessarily engages highly technical issues in accessible prose. Underlying every analytical insight is refreshing optimism regarding the future of international financial services. While readers might not agree with the sentiment expressed in the foreword, written by Jeffrey D. Sachs, that the “end of poverty is coming our way,” it’s hard to disagree that welcome changes are here, with more on the horizon.
A provocative and heartening look at a revolution in financial services.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4602-6551-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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