Gates Foundation Puts Spotlight on Global Savings

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to announce a major new grant to expand financial services to the poor at a forum on the issue it is hosting this week, The Seattle Times reports.

Financial leaders from 38 countries will meet in Seattle Tuesday for the Global Savings Forum, a first-of-its kind event that will gather experts from banking, government, technology, and other specialties to explore new ways to provide financial services in poor and rural areas.

While loans to small businesses in developing countries have grown quickly in recent years, only about 10 percent of the world’s poor have access to a bank account, said Ignacio Mas, deputy director of the foundation’s financial-services program.

Plus: As the Gates Foundation prepares to move into a new purpose-built campus next year, the Financial Times takes a close look at the world’s largest philanthropy’s technology-driven approach to global health and agriculture problems and profiles several of its key executives.