Center for Financial Services Innovation

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is a nonprofit financial services consultancy headquartered in Chicago, specializing in serving unbanked and underbanked consumers.

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.

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.[2] It has partnered with tax preparation firms to help underbanked consumers file their taxes.[3] It regularly provides research grants for financial services researchers.[4][5] It has researched mobile-banking in connection to the underbanked.[6] It is the sponsor of the annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum, the leading event in this industry.[7]

An April 2013 press release indicated that the Center's Financial Capability Innovation Fund II (FCIF II) would be distributing $2.5 million in grants to eight non-profit organizations, with the goal of supporting efforts to "help consumers improve their credit scores, increase their savings, and avoid unnecessary transaction fees."[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/mar/02/0302_altfinside/
  3. ↑ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Sept_20/ai_n15398514
  4. ↑ http://www.socialedge.org/features/opportunities/archive/2008/02/16/weblogentry.2008-02-14.8407715751
  5. ↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS134534+12-Feb-2008+BW20080212
  6. ↑ http://www.paymentsnews.com/2007/04/cfsi_releases_n.html
  7. ↑ http://www.insuranceheadlines.com/Financial-Services/2568.html
  8. ↑ Center for Financial Services Innovation (28 April 2013). "Center for Financial Services Innovation Awards $2.5 Million". Philanthropy News Digest. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

External links