MADISON, Wis. — The World Council of Credit Unions and the MetLife Foundation are partnering to support research in Mexico to better understand the financial service needs of Mexico's unbanked population ages 18–35.
The $175,000 grant from MetLife Foundation is part of their $200-million, five-year commitment to fund programs and services that help advance financial inclusion worldwide.
"World Council and MetLife Foundation share a goal to provide working young adults with access to financial services," said WOCCU President/CEO Brian Branch in a statement. "World Council has a long history of increasing credit union outreach to underserved in Mexico. Forty-four percent of the Mexican credit union membership growth has been unbanked ages 18–35. Credit unions have given them access to savings and credit, as they approach their prime borrowing years."
According to WOCCU, the collaborative project will draw conclusions from surveys with young adults, as well as examine international best practices and Mexican credit unions' preparedness to bring young adult specific products and services to the market. The purpose of the nine-month research effort is to better understand the issues so larger-scale solutions can be implemented.
New Approaches Sought
"We are confident that our partnership with World Council will surface strategies and new approaches to help credit unions in Mexico develop additional means of access for this population," said Dennis White, President and CEO, MetLife Foundation. "The end goal is to empower young adults to be successful in their families, careers and in their communities."
The World Council said it will research and interview members of U.S. and Canadian credit unions that have proven experience reaching young adults, and will partner with Mexican credit unions to conduct a survey with more than 500 participants that explores market demands of the country's low-income young adults with respect to financial services. The survey will address factors needed to help this demographic, including design of specialized products and mobile and online channel preferences.
Throughout this process, World Council said it will identify Mexican credit unions to potentially partner with on a future project that would develop and test a toolkit for credit unions to give thousands of young adults access to financial services.