Bhagwan Chowdhry, professor of finance at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is serving as the inaugural visiting scholar at the nonprofit Stellar Development Foundation, which is using technology to expand access to financial services for the world’s unbanked billions.
“I’ve been advocating financial inclusion for all people — particularly those who have no access to any formal financial services — for many years. Stellar’s mission and philosophy are close to my heart,” said Chowdhry, who is dedicating a sabbatical to working with the organization in India.
With research and teaching nterests in international finance and corporate finance and strategy — and microfinance in particular — Chowdhry recently proposed a Financial Access at Birth initiative in which every child born in the world is given an initial deposit of $100 in an online bank account to guarantee that everyone in the world will have access to financial services.
In an essay in Time magazine, Chowdhry argued that digital currency is the best way to expand financial services to nearly 3 billion poor people — if we make digital currency more convenient, work well with regulators, and properly secure ourselves against fraud.
Read the complete story, Visiting Scholar Bhagwan Chowdhry Spreads the Word, originally published on the Stellar website.
