The world’s 1.7bn unbanked: is this BIG problem solved with a NANO solution?

1.7bn people are without a bank account, but why?

The World Bank estimates that 1.7bn people are unbanked, which of course reflects huge differences in access around the world. Countries in Scandinavia have almost 100% coverage, but in developing countries bank account holders can be a minority of adults. Even developed countries such as the US and UK have a significant % of people with no access to financial services. Sadly, those excluded are often those most in need; ranging from migrants, low income families, those with no registered address and (frequently) women who rely on a spouse to ‘do the finances’. This can lead to a limit on opportunity, and produces a vicious cycle of detachment from services ‘the mainstream’ consider an everyday necessity. Try spending a week with no access to a bank card and you’ll see how many limitations it brings.

Can’t we just ‘give’ everyone a bank account?

There’s a complex set of reasons why this doesn’t happen. Often good intentions that solve one problem end up creating others. When the affected parties are mostly poor or already starved of a voice, its easier to overlook them. Bank accounts are hard to obtain because they often require domestic identification, a registered home address, and/or tax ID numbers. Most people have them, but not everyone. To prevent crime and terrorism, laws have been sharpened to make sure that banks ‘know their customers’ (known as KYC) — and face heavy fines if they don’t.

How can digital currencies help?

While not a perfect answer, digital assets (also sometimes referred to as crypto currencies) can play a part in solving the problem. In most cases, these currencies are de-centralised (i.e. not centrally controlled) and are generally independent of any 1 government or state. By using blockchain technology, these currencies are a way of holding ‘value’ from 1 person or organisation to another, without going through a bank. Nano is one of these currencies which has been created to help solve such issues.

Nano is what exactly?

Nano is a digital currency that was created in 2015 with an aim of bringing digital currencies to the masses by making it as easy to buy, hold and sell as possible. If you have 10 mins, here’s an interesting review of it from an independent source, edited by Steve Walters.

So it’s basically a Bitcoin?

Not really… the Nano team won’t like that expression, but if you’re new to digital assets, you can think of it as something similar! More serious aficionado’s would explain that Nano has a few differences, the main ones being that it is faster and more flexible than Bitcoin for most transactions. But yes, it is a currency in the same category as Bitcoin, in that it is a digital asset.

Why could this help the 1.7bn unbanked?

Nano has some nice features that make it particularly assessible to everyone. Firstly it has zero fees. You may pay a fee to buy / sell (like you would with any currency, depending on the platform or company you use) but you will not pay Nano any fees to use or hold the currency once you have it.

Secondly, it makes it possible to make free P2P money transfers between 2 people. P2P just means ‘Peer to Peer’ or in normal English, Person 2 Person. Because of the fee free angle, you could be in New York, send Nano to your loved one in New Delhi and have no fees attached. That’s a big deal for those used to paying up to 15% commission to send money home.

Thirdly, this makes it useful to send micro payments or for company-to-consumer payments with no costs. Say your Filipina aunty was having her birthday, you could send $50 worth of Nano from Toronto with no fees. A traditional payment with CA$ to PH Pesos would eat a large share of such a payment. Or if you were a small business in Germany and wanted to pay a customer in Poland, you could do so without paying exchange fees from EUR to Zloty.

How can I buy Nano?

There are several ways to buy, hold and store Nano from various companies around the world. As CMO of Wirex, the author of this article recommends using a Wirex card! With 3 million users worldwide and available in 130 countries, Wirex allows you to buy, hold, send and shop with a range of assets from $ to Nano, to £ to Bitcoin. It’s easily downloaded from either app store and once registered you can order a Visa card to pay in local currencies.

If you use Wirex, you get paid!

It’s actually true — with a Wirex card, almost all transactions made with the card in retail will earn up to 1.5% CryptoBack to your account. The more you spend, the more you receive back — worth 0.5% every time you make an in-store purchase (or 1.5% if you hold enough WXT), swipe your Wirex payment card or use Tap and Go. Your credits can be redeemed to your wallet anytime.

With a Trustpilot rating of 4.4 It’s easy & safe to sign up to Wirex, so get an account and get started! If you’re interested, click here for more details https://wirexapp.com/

The author of this article, Martin Best is the CMO of Wirex. He was formerly Managing Director of disruptive Fintech marketing agency Full Reach with offices in London & Copenhagen. Martin is a London-based global Fintech expert, and non-executive Director for global Fintech bodies, working with the Africa Fintech Network and FITSPA. Previously Head of Brand Marketing, EMEA Marketing and Global Marketing Partnerships for Fintech superstar WorldRemit, where he delivered the global campaigns ‘Money in Safe Hands (2016) and A better way to send money (2017). In 2018 Martin supported WorldRemit’s expansion of mobile wallet services in Africa. Martin has held several ‘C’ suite marketing and commercial roles in Europe and Asia for brands such as Carlsberg Group.

The author is the CMO of Wirex — not a financial advisor. The words are the author’s own opinion and should not be considered financial advice, and are not necessarily the opinions shared by Wirex.