Help Us Talk to Financial Service Providers about Embracing Inclusion through Small Dollar Savings Products

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is currently taking votes for their Underbanked Conference Roundtable Café, and we need your help! Follow this link to vote for our session: “Designing Attractive Savings Products for Lower-Income Consumers.” Spread the word and vote before April 13th! You can read about all the possible sessions here. The conference will take place in San Francisco on June 13-15, 2012.  If you simply can’t wait until the Underbanked Conference to learn more about designing small dollar savings accounts, you can check out our paper, Beyond Barriers: Designing Attractive Savings Accounts for Lower-Income Consumers, available here.

Designing Attractive Savings Products for Lower-Income Consumers

Basic savings products have a fundamental role in creating an inclusive financial system. While the hope is that savings accounts can be used to secure a nest egg of precautionary savings to safeguard a family when emergency expenses or decreases in income arise, several in-market launches of basic savings products targeted to lower-income consumers (often called small dollar savings products) yield disappointing enrollment rates and chronically low balances. Before concluding that there is no demand for savings products among lower-income consumers, program managers need to ask: Is there a better way to design more attractive and useful savings products for this target market? Based on an in-depth research, this session will evaluate the market potential and consumer preferences for small dollar savings products among lower-income consumers and discuss how program managers can select different product features, pricing structures, distribution channels and promotional activities to tailor an offering that is beneficial for consumers and the provider.