G2012 Mexico Announces Winner of Financial Inclusion Competition
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The winner of the G2012 Mexico Financial Inclusion: Innovative Solutions for Unlocking Access competition was announced today at the G2012 Conference "Financial Regulation and Innovation: Effects and Perspectives for the Development of Emerging Markets and Developing Economies". Launched by G2012 Mexico and Ashoka Changemakers, the competition sought innovative solutions that would enable underserved and excluded communities to access valuable, affordable, secure, and comprehensive financial services.
Jose Antonio Meade, Minister of Finance of Mexico, presented the award to Juntos Finanzas, which creates SMS-based personal finance tools that help cash-based households track their spending and save towards goals. Juntos Finanzas was selected as the top entry by the competition's panel of expert judges and will receive a prize of US $100,000, sponsored by BBVA Bancomer and Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex). Four finalists were also present at the event participating, together with the winner in the sessions dedicated to financial inclusion during the Conference.
"The winner and finalists of the financial inclusion competition represent innovative, and sustainable solutions that have a social impact on underserved and excluded households by providing them with tools for their economic empowerment," said Meade. "They are helping people to use financial services in order to build savings securely, increase their incomes, and insure themselves against hardship. These solutions are major steps forward towards full financial inclusion and a healthier global financial system."
Diana Wells, President of Ashoka, also spoke at the event. "When a poor household has access to quality financial services, an entire cascade of economic and social benefits becomes possible," said Wells. "The winner and finalists represent exactly the kind of transformative entrepreneurship that we support at Ashoka. "
The competition received 257 entries from 62 countries. The top five finalists were:
- Juntos Finanzas (winner)
- Micro Benefits: Micro Credit for the Next 300 Million
- Naya Jeevan / Mobile Savings, Micropayments & Health/Life Insurance: Promoting Financial Inclusion at the Base of the Pyramid
- WIZZIT--Your Bank in Your Pocket: Affordable financial services for all. Banking the Unbanked of the World
- Servicios Caseteros / The Bank for the Other Mexico
More information about the winner and finalists can be found at: www.changemakers.com/financialinclusion
http://pulse.changemakers.com/competitions/social-investment/2012/06/financial-inclusion/
About The G20
The Group of Twenty, or G20, is the premier forum for international cooperation on the most important aspects of the international economic and financial agenda. It brings together the world's major advanced and emerging economies.
The G20 includes 19 country members and the European Union, which together represent about 90 percent of global GDP, 80 percent of global trade, and two-thirds of the world's population.
The objective of the G20 is to coordinate policy between its members in order to achieve global economic stability and sustain growth, promote financial regulations that reduce risk and prevent future financial crises, and to create a new international financial architecture.
Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, strengthening the financial system and promoting greater financial inclusion are on the agenda for the 2012 Mexican Presidency of the G20. At the 2011 G20 summit in South Korea, the leaders of the G20 recognized financial inclusion as one of the main pillars of the global development agenda and endorsed a concrete Financial Inclusion Action Plan.
About Ashoka Changemakers
Ashoka Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world's most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world's most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka's three decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker.
About Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex) and BBVA Bancomer
These are the two largest Banks in Mexico. They have more than 3,500 branches around the country; operate with almost 19,000 banking agents; and have more than 37 million accounts. Banamex and Bancomer are pioneers in searching for effective ways to reach the unbanked and financially excluded population in Mexico. Both have developed financial literacy programs that complement their financial inclusion actions, and have recently launched their mobile banking service, with the objective of reaching out to a broader population.
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SOURCE Ashoka Changemakers
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