The Center for Financial Services Innovation
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The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is a nonprofit financial services consultancy headquartered in Chicago, specializing in serving unbanked and underbanked consumers (that is to say, people without bank accounts). It has been characterized as a national leader in research for the underbanked. [1]
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[edit] History
An affiliate of ShoreBank Corporation, CFSI grew out of a research project conducted in 2002 by a division of ShoreBank on behalf of the Ford Foundation to examine the gap between supply and demand of financial services for low-income consumers as well as potential strategies to close it. The project[1], authored by Ellen Seidman and Jennifer Tescher showed that millions of Americans are faced with an inadequate supply of well-designed, reasonably-priced financial products and services to both meet short-term needs and provide opportunities for longer-term wealth creation.
CFSI was officially launched in 2004. [2]
[edit] Work
CFSI serves the industry in three primary ways: as an educator, conducting research and disseminating it widely; as a broker, connecting people and organizations within the industry; and as investor, funding both for-profits and nonprofits. [3]
It has partnered with tax preparation firms to help underbanked consumers file their taxes. [4]
It regularly provides research grants for financial services researchers. [5] [6]
It has researched mobile-banking in connection to the underbanked. [7]
It is the sponsor of the annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum, the leading event in this industry. [8]
[edit] References
- ^ Ellen Seidman and Jennifer Tescher, Unbanked to Homeowner: Improving the Supply of Financial Services for Low-Income, Low-Asset Customers, Brookings Institution Press, October 2005.
