Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s comments were cited in this article on India.com.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, said that millions of women globally lack documentation and other forms of identification to open a simple savings account, but India has recently implemented an innovative biometric ID system that has dramatically expanded access to financial services.
“It’s truly remarkable what India has been able to accomplish, and the government has really just driven financial inclusion. They have instituted this biometric system. So, everybody has a thumbprint and that’s been available to men and women alike,” she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
She, however, said there were a things “we would love to see changed”. “We don’t always know, but when we dig into the data that typically means that the husband has taken that biometric information and opened a bank account rather than the wife,” she said.
