Liveblogging Microfinance USA: Money Quotes [Walk and Talk]

It must be said. Gavin Newsom opened the second and final day of Microfinance USA, and Andrea Levere of CFED followed with a longer address, but the money quote has come from Lisa Mensah.”Money scattered in a dark place brings light.” Mensah, of the Initiative for Financial Security at the Aspen Institute, has perhaps summed up the entire conference.

10:37 a.m. Ben Mangan of EARN brings up prize-linked savings and its incredible early success. “You don’t lose, in a raffle like that,” he says, and adds that with a few adaptations the model could become mainstream. We agree.

Ben answers a question about savings and behavior: “Research backs this up. People tend to view the future differently. Some accounts are risky- you can’t get your money out right away. Saving is inherently entrepreneurial. Savers are strivers.”

10:43 a.m. “I just want to sit tight, and let people build their own wealth.” Lisa, you’re on a roll.

10: 49 a.m. Ben Mangan, on the unbanked: “When you begin by understanding why people are removed from the mainstream, you can bring that information to financial institutions. You can use that. And that’s how you help people, how you help banks get involved.”

10: 52 a.m. Jose Quinonez gets up to the microphone and invites the panel, “before they return to New York,” to visit the Mission Asset Fund and see what they’re talking about in action. 

Laughs from entire ballroom when someone makes the point that some people (maybe not the ones attending this conference, though) would rather talk about their sex lives than whether they save and how. Panel ends, on a light note. Keep track of things at http://twitter.com/newamericaca as well.

11:08 a.m. The opener of the second panel, Innovations in Microfinance Worldwide, is a man after my own heart- “Bored out of your skull? (No, but thanks) “We have cards, let us know if you want us to go in a certain direction. You have bios in your packets, so I’ll skip that part.”

11:25 a.m. Chuck Slaughter of LivingGoods– “We’re not innovative. We’re shamelessly ripping off a model that’s 150 years old- the Avon model. We’re ladies going door-to-door, educating, and selling cheaper, better versions of products people in Africa need. We’re a franchise model, and the goal is to do this sustainably, both environmentally, socially, and economically.” Not innovative? This is the most interesting concept I’ve heard so far.

11:51 a.m. I’ve popped over for the second half of the Policy Efforts to Promote Responsible and Appropriate Financial Products panel, which features former New America Asset expert Melissa Koide, as well as CAMEO’s Claudia Viek and CRL’s Paul Leonard.

11:56 a.m. Eleni Constantine of Pew, on federal financial reform: “States with better regulations (she gives California as an example, though some like Paul Leonard might disagree) might not want to lose that to a faceless consumer protection agency in Washington.” Why take a cop off the beat, she says.

12:08 p.m. James Gutierrez of Progreso Financiero asks the panel what will happen under new regulations to non-banks, many of which are attending this conference. Melissa agrees its a matter of innovation and education, to help “the good non-banks.”As to the question of interchange fees, the fees retailers pay credit card companies and banks for use of their systems, Paul Leonard says it’s a matter of making sure fees are proportional to the transaction. Melissa brings up pre-paid, reloadable cards, and questions whether banks actually “want” customers whose accounts will be low-balance. She says that in part, the reason they’re able to provide these cards is interchange fees.

12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. The two-hour lunch session defies conference norms, and this writer’s expectations. Chartered buses ferry attendees to two entrepreneur’s businesses, the first being Dress, a designer evening gown lending boutique. Conversation quickly turns from thoughts of business plans and microloans to whether she has Carolina Herrera. The second stop, just blocks from the conference site at the Westin on Market, is Paladar Cafe Cubano. The owners were connected with a Wells Fargo Loan via Urban Solutions. 

2:30 p.m- 3:45 p.m. The final panel of the day keeps geeks riveted, with much talk of automaticity, economic models of social decisions, test groups, and social capitol. My colleague Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini discusses Auto-Save on the panel, titled (Ir)Rational: Applying Behavioral Economics to Microfinance. We all muse over ways to hide money from ourselves.