The Center for Financial Services Innovation
Encyclopedia
The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is a nonprofit financial services consultancy headquartered in Chicago
, specializing in serving unbanked
and underbanked consumers (that is to say, people without bank accounts). It has been characterized as a national leader in research for the underbanked.
Corporation, CFSI grew out of a research project conducted in 2002 by a division of ShoreBank
on behalf of the Ford Foundation
to examine the gap between supply and demand of financial services for low-income consumers as well as potential strategies to close it. The project, authored by Ellen Seidman and Jennifer Tescher showed that millions of Americans
are faced with an inadequate supply of well-designed, reasonably-priced financial products and services to both meet short-term needs and provide opportunities for longer-term wealth creation.
CFSI was officially launched in 2004.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, specializing in serving unbanked
Unbanked
The unbanked are citizens of a country who do not have their own bank account. Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial services for their financial needs, where these are available.-The unbanked in the United States:...
and underbanked consumers (that is to say, people without bank accounts). It has been characterized as a national leader in research for the underbanked.
History
An affiliate of ShoreBankShoreBank
ShoreBank was a community development bank founded and headquartered in Chicago. At the time of its closing it was the oldest and largest such institution, and in 2008 had $2.6 billion in assets. It was owned by ShoreBank Corporation, a regulated bank holding company.ShoreBank had branches in...
Corporation, CFSI grew out of a research project conducted in 2002 by a division of ShoreBank
ShoreBank
ShoreBank was a community development bank founded and headquartered in Chicago. At the time of its closing it was the oldest and largest such institution, and in 2008 had $2.6 billion in assets. It was owned by ShoreBank Corporation, a regulated bank holding company.ShoreBank had branches in...
on behalf of the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
to examine the gap between supply and demand of financial services for low-income consumers as well as potential strategies to close it. The project, authored by Ellen Seidman and Jennifer Tescher showed that millions of Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
are faced with an inadequate supply of well-designed, reasonably-priced financial products and services to both meet short-term needs and provide opportunities for longer-term wealth creation.
CFSI was officially launched in 2004.
Work
CFSI serves the industry in three primary ways: as an educator, conducting research and disseminating it widely; as a broker, connecting people and organizations within the industry; and as investor, funding both for-profits and nonprofits. It has partnered with tax preparation firms to help underbanked consumers file their taxes. It regularly provides research grants for financial services researchers. It has researched mobile-banking in connection to the underbanked. It is the sponsor of the annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum, the leading event in this industry.See also
- ShoreBankShoreBankShoreBank was a community development bank founded and headquartered in Chicago. At the time of its closing it was the oldest and largest such institution, and in 2008 had $2.6 billion in assets. It was owned by ShoreBank Corporation, a regulated bank holding company.ShoreBank had branches in...
- Political and Economic Research CouncilPolitical and Economic Research CouncilPERC, the Policy and Economic Research Council is a Durham, North Carolina based non-profit, non-partisan think tank that concentrates on market-based economic development, both in the United States and internationally...
-- a Chapel Hill, NC-based think tank dealing in the same issue area