Banks make money by lending out the money that you deposit. The more cash you put in, the better you’re treated transactions take priority, fees get waived, interest rates are higher, and a personal banker is assigned. On the flip side, the less money in your account, the more fees you pay, and the further back in the line you start from.

Banks chase affluent accounts who bring large balances and high cash flow. But it’s not just banks every business aims for as many high spenders and wealthy as possible. Yet there are 2 companies Western Union and MoneyGram, that have gone in the opposite direction in providing financial services in peertopeer money transfer (international & domestic) to a population that banks deem to be too poor and too lowvalue.

Migrant workers and the poor are left out of the global financial system for similar reasons: they have too little money, their employment is volatile, their earnings are inconsistent, there are significant language and cultural barriers, they lack documentation, etc. In this episode, we’ll cover the business of Western Union and MoneyGram, how these companies drive economic growth in developing countries, and how the market is pushing their evolution into a bank for the poor.

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0:00 Sending Money for Better
7:49 Distributed Systems
19:54 Banking the Unbanked