MFIC’s Chairman Testified Before the House Financial Services Committee
James Orr, Chairman of Microfinance International Corporation, testified at the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. Access, Transparency, and Market Efficiency-A Progress Report” on May 17, 2007. Mr. Orr presented some features of MFIC’s remittance platform that have brought about major cost reductions and better compliance in the market as part of the company’s mission to expand affordable and professional financial services to underserved communities.
“Microfinance International began from a starting point different than most remittance companies,” Mr. Orr said in the testimony. “Our concern was with the agonizingly slow progress toward economic development in many parts of Latin America.” Mr. Orr also said that MFIC had the advantage of developing its platform after 9-11, and thus included all necessary features to meet the heightened compliance requirements. In concluding the testimony, Mr. Orr suggested that government aggregate industry-wide data to help identify suspicious patterns of transactions that are invisible to individual companies no matter how diligent they are.
The transcript of testimony is available on the homepage of the U.S. House of Representatives.
MFIC is a pioneer in leveraging the vast flow of remittances for the economic development of sending and receiving countries. While offering value-added financial services to unbanked immigrants at its wholly owned and operated retail financial centers, Alante Financial, MFIC also offers its money transfer solution, ARIAS, to financial institutions, enabling them to offer a competitive remittance service to capture the immigrant market and support financial inclusion for the unbanked. MFIC believes the combination of microfinance methodology and a commercial banking approach in a for-profit model enables the company to make financial services available in a socially responsible manner and ensure scalability.
“Microfinance International began from a starting point different than most remittance companies,” Mr. Orr said in the testimony. “Our concern was with the agonizingly slow progress toward economic development in many parts of Latin America.” Mr. Orr also said that MFIC had the advantage of developing its platform after 9-11, and thus included all necessary features to meet the heightened compliance requirements. In concluding the testimony, Mr. Orr suggested that government aggregate industry-wide data to help identify suspicious patterns of transactions that are invisible to individual companies no matter how diligent they are.
The transcript of testimony is available on the homepage of the U.S. House of Representatives.
MFIC is a pioneer in leveraging the vast flow of remittances for the economic development of sending and receiving countries. While offering value-added financial services to unbanked immigrants at its wholly owned and operated retail financial centers, Alante Financial, MFIC also offers its money transfer solution, ARIAS, to financial institutions, enabling them to offer a competitive remittance service to capture the immigrant market and support financial inclusion for the unbanked. MFIC believes the combination of microfinance methodology and a commercial banking approach in a for-profit model enables the company to make financial services available in a socially responsible manner and ensure scalability.