Thank you Graham for such a good exposition of why this agenda is not just about the money. We really value what informal savings mechanisms can do for their members and have always said to our partner FSPs that what we are really after is a triple-win. Something in linkage for them (otherwise their interest will not sustain) but just importantly something in it for the ISM-user (linkage adds to the mix not just substitutes) and something in the whole package that helps strengthen the ISM itself. What really spoke to me when I saw the growing overlap between formal and informal, is that the customer (the ISM user) is clearly in the same place on this, if not ahead of us. The poor very quickly stop using things that do not work for them - dormancy is their ultimate signalling mechanism when it comes to badly designed financial products - but when things do work, growth can be spectacular. It is a really powerful signal that the fastest growing, active part of the market is people who mix formal (especially digitised formal) with informal. Now let's try and make what they are already doing easier and more rewarding for them.
Thank you Graham for such a good exposition of why this agenda is not just about the money. We really value what informal savings mechanisms can do for their members and have always said to our partner FSPs that what we are really after is a triple-win. Something in linkage for them (otherwise their interest will not sustain) but just importantly something in it for the ISM-user (linkage adds to the mix not just substitutes) and something in the whole package that helps strengthen the ISM itself. What really spoke to me when I saw the growing overlap between formal and informal, is that the customer (the ISM user) is clearly in the same place on this, if not ahead of us. The poor very quickly stop using things that do not work for them - dormancy is their ultimate signalling mechanism when it comes to badly designed financial products - but when things do work, growth can be spectacular. It is a really powerful signal that the fastest growing, active part of the market is people who mix formal (especially digitised formal) with informal. Now let's try and make what they are already doing easier and more rewarding for them.