By Andrei Skvarsky.
New York-based financial technology company Venio has developed a smartphone app for making nano loans, primarily for people in developing countries who do not use banks, and has launched the device in the Philippines.
The app is expected to promote financial inclusion by giving unbanked people access to financial services that are normally closed to those who are not bank clients but are more important now than ever before for ordinary people in the developing world because of Covid-19.
The app is the first-ever smartphone-based nano lending service for developing countries, Venio said in a statement.
According to the World Bank, 1.7bn people or nearly one quarter of the world’s population are unbanked, most of them living in developing countries. The number includes 54m citizens of the Philippines, half the country’s population.
Venio said its app offers immediate access to loans that can be as low as one U.S. dollar, an amount that in the Philippines can buy about 1.5 kilograms of rice or basic medicine or pay for transport to and from work for a week.
No collateral is required to obtain a loan, the company said. The cash can be collected from grocery shops or healthcare, transport, leisure or entertainment facilities.
Venio said there had been about 10,000 downloads of the app within the first week of its roll-out.
The firm plans to extend the service to other countries in Asia and to Latin America.
Venio specialises in nano lending via smartphones and mobile payments. It has offices in Britain, the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Colombia in addition to its headquarters in New York.
Venio, which translates from Latin as “I am coming”, was set up in 2018.
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