NPR’s social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam reports how financial institutions in countries where people lack financial records could look into using records on cell phone use to determine the likelyhood of a person paying back their loans. And predicting this with surprising accuracy.
This could help the poorest of people in the developing world, specifically those who lack the typical financial track record to prove that they will pay back their loans. Something the World Bank’s Private Sector Development and Dutch financial instutions could further support, perhaps.
Listen to David Greene and Shankar Vedantam’s 4-minute report below.
Netherlands for the World Bank 