Finland has a novel way of giving refugees

money

Refugees can receive wages, pay bills and even loan each other money with a prepaid debit card
Image: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
14 Sep 2017

Like many European countries, Finland is hosting migrants who have made their way often in
dangerous circumstances to Europe in the past few years.

Between January 2014 and June 2017, the Finnish immigration authority received 41,241 asylum
applications, mostly from citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Eritrea.
Image: Lucify

For those granted asylum, key challenges remained. Without identification papers, they faced a
long wait to get work permits or bank accounts.

And without access to financial services, they couldnt bank their wages, pay bills, or start to
recover their identities.

So one Finnish start-up came up with a solution.

Debit cards without a bank

MONI has developed a prepaid debit card that circumvents the need for a bank account or
identity papers. The card is linked to a unique digital identity stored on a blockchain the same
technology that underpins Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Two years ago, MONI partnered with the Finnish government to provide refugees with their
monthly allowance, which until then had been paid in cash.

Iraqi asylum seekers walk in a refugee center in Lahti, Finland

Image: REUTERS/Lehtikuva Lehtikuva

The cards mean that the refugees can also receive money including salaries when they get jobs
and pay bills, without the need to open a bank account.
The blockchain technology used by MONI doesnt require a financial intermediary, such as a
bank, to process transactions. Instead, transactions are instantaneous between users, and a unique
digital record is kept of each one. Its a cheaper payment system that is highly transparent.

In addition to paying and receiving money, cardholders can also apply for a loan or credit through
their mobile phone, either from friends or financial companies. The card encompasses a circle of
trust where users choose the friends they would be happy to loan money to, setting a maximum
amount, and friends can reciprocate. Loans between friends have no fees and no interest, and the
service is free to use.

Credit can also be accessed through MONIs financial partners.

Image: Arctic start-up

Financial inclusion

As the refugee influx in all EU countries is growing, finding ways to create efficiencies via
modern technology in payments is a welcome change, and at the end of day not a solution only
for Finland, but for all European countries, said Jouko Salonen, CAO of the Finnish
Immigration Service at the time of the agreement.

Antti Pennanen, MONIs founder and CEO, told the MIT Technology review: Our purpose has
always been financial inclusion, and especially to help people in developing countries.

As well as being a system for payments, blockchain is a secure way of keeping track of other
kinds of data, for example tracing the provenance of diamonds. The United Nations is looking
into using the technology to provide legal identification to 1.1 billion people worldwide with no
official documents.
Some proponents of blockchain argue that the technology could help level the playing field for
the 2 billion "unbanked" people in the world, and ultimately bring an end to poverty.