PE, MFIs back Philippines rural lending initiative

When examining the driving forces of rural development, one fact continually rings true: the higher the proportion of people in possession of a bank account, the higher a country's GDP per capita. In Asia, two countries fall well below the trend line in this respect - Pakistan and the Philippines. "For obvious reasons, we decided to focus on the Philippines first," says Paul Kocourek, who recently won funding for Bridge, a financial services start-up dedicated to improving rural banking. "We are focusing on areas where the financial system is most broken and serving as an obstacle to job creation and development in rural areas."