The National Asian American Coalition (NAAC) and Talino Venture Labs, working jointly as NAAC-Talino Finance, have been selected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to participate in a tech sprint “designed to explore new technologies and techniques to help banks meet the needs of unbanked consumers.”
The NAAC is a US Dept. of Treasury-Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) and a HUD-Approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit Housing Counseling Agency providing its services to over 10,000 minority families in diverse communities throughout California by preparing clients for mortgages and becoming sustainable homeowners. As an approved SBA Microloan Intermediary Lender and IBank-guaranteed lender, NAAC is a resource by qualified small businesses and non-traditional borrowers for access to capital and other financing options to assist underserved communities.
On August 7, 2021, it was awarded California Nonprofit of the Year Award by CalNonprofits, “for their ‘tireless efforts to work with the US Marines in a series of Financial Management workshops and its Owning A Piece of America webinars’ and ‘encompasses its CDFI Fund recent designation by the [US Small Business Association] as an approved microloan intermediary lender as NAAC sought out to help small businesses during an extraordinary year of health and economic struggles.”
Meanwhile, Talino Venture Labs is a global venture studio for inclusive fintech that is on a mission to bridge financial inclusion for over 1.7 billion people around the world. It uses the successful venture studio model to build repeatable, scalable, and profitable fintechs that empower underserved, underrepresented groups around the world with financial access and mobility. Its award-winning startups currently serve at least 10 million customers between the United States and Asia, and these have been recognized by global institutions such as UNICEF and the Asian Development Bank.
Breaking down barriers for the unbanked
FDIC’s tech sprint, managed by its tech lab, FDITECH,is called Breaking Down Barriers: Reaching the Last Mile of the Unbanked and was launched on July 6, 2021. This first-of-its-kind tech sprint brings a diverse set of stakeholders (e.g., banks, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, private sector companies, members of the public) together in collaborative settings for a short period of time to intensely focus on challenges of importance to the FDIC. It challenged participants to identify better resources and tools to help banks bring unbanked consumers into the banking system and to sustain those banking relationships over time.
“As we work to build the banking system of the future, one of our most important challenges is to make certain that banking is open and accessible to every family,” said FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji. “We look forward to evaluating the ideas of these eight teams as we work to reach that last mile of the unbanked.”
Responding to the announcement, Talino Venture Labs CEO Winston Damarillo said, “We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate and showcase Talino Venture Labs’ Financial Inclusion Technologies. Our partnership with NAAC brings Global Best practices and innovation to our financially underserved communities.”
Meanwhile, NAAC President & CEO Faith Bautista, said, “This is a great opportunity for NAAC-Talino Finance to be more of service to the Low and Moderate Income communities. We always serve as the trusted conduit between the communities and the financial institutions. Our exciting task right now, which we pursue with love and care, is to create and introduce an innovative and safe digital-based platform that helps the unbanked achieve financial inclusion. This takes us closer to realizing our vision of a society that works with no one left behind.”
According to the FDIC’s How America Banks Report, Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native households remain significantly more likely to be unbanked. Given the challenges reaching the ‘last mile’ of unbanked households, and recognizing that community banks are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of this population but also often lack access to data and resources, the FDIC sought tech sprint participants to help answer the following question: “Which data, tools, and other resources could help community banks meet the needs of the unbanked in a cost-effective manner, and how might the impact of this work be measured?”
A ‘‘Demo Day’ will be hosted on September 10, 2021, to be evaluated by a panel of judges who will evaluate submissions for “creativity, effectiveness/impact, and market readiness.” All submissions will be publicized and winners will be chosen in several categories.
“Leveraging on NAAC’s work in providing small business loans to minority-owned businesses and underserved entrepreneurs, and Talino’s experience in building inclusive fintech in emerging markets, our team is excited to build truly inclusive, accessible, and sustainable solutions so that community development finance institutions like NAAC-CDFI can help more small businesses recover and thrive in a post-pandemic world. We are honored to be among worthy competitors and look forward to unlocking value for long-overlooked markets,” Damarillo added.
For more information on the FDIC’s tech sprint, visit this press section in their website.
The National Asian American Coalition (NAAC) is a US Dept. of Treasury Certified CDFI and a HUD-Approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit Housing Counseling Agency providing its services to over 10,000 minority families in diverse communities throughout California by preparing clients for mortgages and becoming sustainable homeowners. As an approved SBA Microloan Intermediary Lender and IBank-guaranteed lender, NAAC is a resource by qualified small businesses & non-traditional borrowers for access to capital and other financing options to assist underserved communities.
Talino Venture Labs is a global venture studio for inclusive fintech that is on a mission to bridge financial inclusion for over 1.7 billion people around the world. It uses the successful venture studio model to build repeatable, scalable, and profitable fintechs that empower underserved, underrepresented groups around the world with financial access and mobility. Visit www.talinolabs.com for more information.
