Biometrics enable micro-lending in Namibia

Namibia: Another Step Forward for Access to Banking (All Africa)

In terms of the agreement, PostFin will use the DBN credit line to finance small businesses, housing and education.

The micro-lending agreement builds on the existing relationship between NamPost and DBN. NamPost previously used DBN finance to implement electronic banking with biometric account management, which has substantially improved access to banking in Namibia, particularly in smaller centres and hard to access areas.

Read on and you'll also learn that in Namibia, like in other countries, the postal service is getting in on the ID business.

Click the 'Postal Service' label below for more examples.

Namibia: Banking, ID & the Post Office

More Namibians have access to banking (The Namibian)

The 17 per cent increase in Namibia’s banked population since 2007 came mostly from low-income earners, aged 32 to 39, living in rural areas.

Better financial access was driven largely by innovative, low-cost and safer products and services by NamPost. “NamPost has changed their product and strategy which has significantly driven product uptake: the physical savings book product was terminated and a biometric smartcard aimed at low-income users was introduced,” the survey said. Significant growth in bank branches across the country also improved.

Since ID management is one of the post office's main functions, it was really interesting to see this article about how the Namibian post office NamPost is contributing to the increasing number of Namibians with access to financial services.

See: The Post Office, Identity Assurance & Biometrics from Friday.