A Japanese banker based in Washington has launched a mobile phone-based financial service to help immigrants in the U.S. without bank accounts send money to their home countries.
Hoping to help poor immigrants escape poverty, Atsumasa Tochisako, who operates Washington-based lender Microfinance International Corp., began the service in cooperation with major Japanese telecom carrier KDDI Corp., with an eye to expanding its reach to Hispanic immigrants in Japan in the future.
"Financial services should be offered for the sake of society," Tochisako, 57, said. "We want to offer finance, the blood of the economy, to every corner of society. One tool to this end is an international remittance service using mobile phones."