Poor Peoples' Savings: Q&As with Experts

Publication Date: 2006
Published by: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
Document Type: Other (PDF)

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Compilation of experts’ views on savings demand, products, delivery models and policy issues.

This document presents interviews that cover key savings topics such as savings demand, products, delivery models and policy issues. These include the following:

• Stuart Rutherford, author of the “Poor and their Money,” explains why poor people save;
• Daryl Collins, Director of the Financial Diaries Project explains how the poor manage their money;
• Marguerite Robinson, author of “Mobilizing savings from the Public: Basic Principles and Practices” suggests ways for commercial MFIs to mobilize savings from the poor on a large scale, and still remain profitable;
• Robert Vogel, International Management and Communication Corp (IMCC), answers questions about the challenges that financial intermediaries face when they start mobilizing small-scale savings;
• Madeline Hirschland, author of “Savings Services for the Poor” states that:
  
  • Managing savings effectively is important and significantly different than managing credit alone;
  • The economically active poor demand savings services that are close by and that do not require large opening balances or regular deposits.
• Jeffery Ashe, Oxfam America and Elisabeth Rhyne, ACCION International examine the potential role of member-owned financial institutions (MOFIs) in mobilizing savings and scaling up rural access to finance;
• Brian Branch, World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) explains how financial cooperatives can overcome governance and regulatory challenges;
• Carlos Cuevas, World Bank, suggests ways to protect the savings of cooperative members;
• Glen Westly, Inter-American Development Bank, explains how MFIs can fund themselves.