Future Finance
This Nobel Prize-Winning Idea Is Instead Piling Debt on Millions
Banking via your phone has made borrowing small amounts easier than ever but has left many unable to pay.
Residents use the M-Pesa banking service at a store in Nairobi.
Photographer: Trevor Snapp/Bloomberg
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With no bank account to his name, J. Barasa still found a lender to finance his passion for gambling on soccer. All it took was a few clicks on his phone and his willingness to pay annual interest of more than 150%.
The 32-year-old Nairobi taxi driver represents the new frontier in the market for mobile money, the universe where banking is done over the phone. Its proliferation is making it easier than ever to borrow, marrying convenience to need and creating a level of stress that only crushing debt can produce.