12.7 percent of U.S. households are "unbanked",

The 2001 Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances estimates that around 12.7 percent of U.S. households are "unbanked", or not in possession of a checking account.

Therefore, almost 12 million households make up a definite block of the "bottom of the pyramid" in the U.S.. According to the Financial Service Centers of America (FiSCA) (the trade organization for check cashers) there are approximately 11,000 check cashing centers in the U.S.

These centers cash more than 180 million checks annually, at a total face value exceeding $55 billion. The check cashing charges range from one percent to 10 percent depending on the type of check (government, payroll, or personal), the amount of the check, and in some states, possession of proof of ID for the customer. Check cashing services in 18 states are unregulated. Frost & Sullivan estimates the size of the check cashing industry at approximately $2.5 billion.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has designed an Electronic Transfer Account (ETA) in order to offer affordable services geared to match the financial habits of the un-banked population; The ETA eliminates the burden of depositing minimum funds to open an account, mitigates the strain of maintaining the average minimum balance, and protects against the common prospect of bounced checks and its associated charges. The ETA ensures that individuals who are required to receive federal payments electronically have access to an account at a reasonable cost (no more than $3 a month) and have the same consumer protections available as other account holders at the same financial institution. ETA is available at around 18,000 banking branches in the U.S.

The Unbanked Ecosystem

As Founder of WISeKey and the OISTE Foundation we already provided several major commitments to the United Nations International Telecommunication Union with a donation of 7 million dollars to deploy a digital identification system for developing countries http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/e-strategy/ecdc/ra/pdf/radeploy.pdf . WISeKey also launched a project with Microsoft at the World Summit on Information Society last year to Reduce the Gap in the New Digital Identification Divide by Issuing 20 Million Digital Identities at WSIS http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=158481.

After visiting the CGI and realized the unique collaborative development model that Clinton is putting in place, we are now decided to multiply this commitment by several times factor to the CGI so we can expand together the use of digital identification and true Single Sign-on functionality to over one billion people allowing them to securely transact chip to chip via the Internet to outreach the unbanked communities of the word. Financial institutions throughout the world have only recently begun to take notice of this "unbanked ecosystem". Because the majority of the unbanked are typically low-wage earners with few assets in disadvantages areas, Banks didn’t see much upside in pursuing their business. That attitude has to change as now teh Internet has the potential to reach every person in the world.

Carlos Moreira Blog Against Poverty - OutReaching the Unbanked

Carlos Moreira, is the Founder, chairman of the Board and Chief Executive of WISeKey Corporation, the fastest growing company in e-trust and e-security for personal, governmental and business computing. Carlos Moreira is Swiss and was born in Cadiz. He has over 20 years experience working with information systems for large multinationals, consulting groups, international organizations and the United Nations. Carlos has launched a Global Initiative to reduce poverty by provide digital identities and ebaking accounts to poor and disadvantage people many of them migrants to be used to channel them resources, including remittances.

Originally a former United Nations expert in Telecommunications, Security and Information Networks, Carlos Moreira has been responsible for research, development, implementation, analyses and negotiations related to technology, e-security and e-commerce for the United Nations and specialized agencies. He has focused in particular on the relationship between information technologies, security, telecommunications, and international trade networks. As World Technology Coordinator of the UNCTAD Trade Point Programme, he was responsible for the development of the world’s largest Internet Network of Mirror Sites and Secure hubs for for E-commerce (GTPNet). Visit Carlos Moreira Home Page