Uday Kotak Quotes

In Mexico, a network of government-operated rural convenience stores is offering banking services to rural communities.

Retail banking in Africa is very weak. You can't go to a village and get money from an ATM or visit a branch of the bank. So people have to use the Internet.

If we want to be the banker to every Indian as we want to be, then we will have to use technology.

Technologies, including cell phones, have the potential to help millions of poor people out of poverty by enabling access to a range of safe, affordable financial services - most importantly, savings accounts - that have long been out of reach.

Microcredit has shown how you can reach out to people that conventional banking cannot. It has demonstrated that it's a doable proposition.

India is among the leaders in thinking about how technology can solve some of the problems about financial inclusion. But if you think that financial inclusion as a problem has a solution rooted in technology, it's obviously not the only thing.

The moment you say microfinance everybody wants to help you.

A well-functioning microfinance bank can actually be a profitable business as well. So it became a perfect proof point that, through business, you can provide an experience that leads to individual self-empowerment.

Because microfinance is so manageable in terms of the size of the loan, people have made it the cornerstone to lifting women out of poverty.

I founded Grameen Bank to provide loans to those considered traditionally unbankable. Grameen Bank works with the poorest and often illiterate, providing uncollateralized micro-loans for tiny business enterprises by which they can lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Financial inclusion matters not only because it promotes growth, but because it helps ensure prosperity is widely shared. Access to financial services plays a critical role in lifting people out of poverty, in empowering women, and in helping governments deliver services to their people.

Microfinance does not require previous experience or loans to the same extent as a small-business loan, so it's easier for women to enter the micro sector.

We developed microfinance to fight loan sharks - I was telling people don't go to loan sharks - not trying to take advantage and make money for myself. I would be a junior loan shark if I did... It is not a panacea.

If women had better access to the financial system - even so much as a basic deposit account at a bank - it would be a major step in the direction of greater wealth and greater economic empowerment.

At LearnVest, we're working to make financial planning both accessible and affordable so that everyone has the opportunity to get on track financially.

With post offices and postal workers already on the ground, USPS could partner with banks to make a critical difference for millions of Americans who don't have basic banking services because there are almost no banks or bank branches in their neighborhoods.

I believe we must begin now to seriously focus on this central question- to what degree should financial providers besides banks be asked to step up to the plate and participate in CRA-like [Community Rehabilitation Act] programs as the banking industry has done?

I wanted to make sure that women made up half of all Grameen's borrowers. But it wasn't easy to persuade the women in Bangladesh to join the bank. A man isn't even allowed to address a woman in her village.

Rising incomes and positive demographics will provide opportunities for retail financial services in India.

Payments banks can also act as business correspondents of other banks.

Beyond the traditional areas of cooperation, we have entered the digital age with its own opportunities. The area of fintech needs to be explored.

At Coinbase, our mission is to create an open financial system for the world. We believe that open protocols for money will create more innovation, economic freedom, and equality of opportunity in the world, just like the Internet did for publishing information.

The Microfinance segment is a challenging client servicing space and thus requires a great amount of dedication, integrity and teamwork.

Most governments want their citizens to be part of the financial system, to be productive citizens as a result of having access to be able to manage and move money in a seamless way. But the traditional financial services infrastructure is not designed to handle that because, predominantly, it's an expensive infrastructure.

We're trying to democratise financial services, to ensure that management and movement of money is a right for all citizens, not the privilege of the affluent.