A new report by Oxford Economics and fintech startup Juvo says mobile network operators could help solve the financial identity problem through Financial Identity as a Service or FiDaaS; more than 5 billion people around the world use a mobile phone yet 1.7 billion people still have no access to the financial system; according to Forbes the report states, “FiDaaS leverages the customer relationships held by mobile operators to create a unique financial identity and credit score for mobile phone users. Its model is to discover enough information about a customer to provide a low-risk micro-loan (typically airtime for a mobile account)”; making micro loans is not a profitable business for banks, but with advances in technology and the creation of FiDaaS it could help change the equation; FiDaaS could add more than $250bn to global GDP and help to bring in millions more into the financial system; conquering the challenges in each market would be the first step for FiDaaS to prove itself out and firms like Juvo are making strides in achieving this. Forbes
