BID + MIF + CAF call for proposals to improve financial services for lowincome population

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN, by its Spanish acronym), and CAF –development bank of Latin America– called for projects to improve financial services access for low-income populations in Latin America and the Caribbean through innovative technological solutions.

The Financial Inclusion Technologies Program’s third edition calls for proposals from private companies, technological service providers, NGOs, co-ops, associations, financial firms, banks, foundations and other entities. Selected projects may get up to US$300,000 in funding for implementation. Ideas to be considered include the development, integration and implementation of technological solutions for:

• Offering financial services to rural or unattended population through non-banking correspondents or mobile devices;
• Offering new financial services and products: savings, payments, money transfer systems, etc., and / or expand services for customers who cannot be served with the existing technology;
• Increasing efficiency and reducing costs, as well as improving financial and operational performance.

The call for proposals has three stages: (i) identifying and selecting ideas that respond to the program’s goals; (ii) project strategy and project co-financing development for proposals that are considered socially desirable, technically feasible and economically viable; (iii) project implementation with measurable results in terms of financial inclusion, that can capture and share the learned lessons, generating learning in the region.

Candidates must send a video with a maximum 3-minute runtime to tec-in@iadb.org from June 4 to July 4, 2012.

The video must answer the following questions:

• Which problem is being addressed and what is the proposed solution?
• How developed is the idea for implementation and how committed to it are the institution or institutions that support it?
• What are the results expected from implementing the idea?
• Whom will the idea benefit?
• How will these results contribute to unattended population’s financial inclusion?
• What distinctive and particular elements set your idea apart from others that already exist in the market?

The Financial Inclusion Technologies Program was launched in 2010. More than 600 proposals were presented in the two previous editions, with more than 30 selected to be converted into projects. Six have already secured financing, whereas another eight are close to obtain it.

Further information on the program and the organizers, including key dates and FAQs, can be found at www.tec-in.org.