A new approach to banking in Malawi

Grace says she's going to use the money she has saved for her children's education. In the future she hopes to buy a house.

A bank that has introduced cash machines to benefit small traders in Malawi has featured on Outlook.

The Opportunity International Bank of Malawi introduced their first cash machines in Lilongwe four years ago and uses a system of fingerprinting to confirm customers' identity.

"Our ambition really is to help people become independent of aid," said Edward Fox of Opportunity International.

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The Opportunity International website

"Many people don't have passports. They won't have driving licenses. Many people in that poorest position aren't literate either so the idea of filling in a form isn't possible.. So the idea of just opening an account with a fingerprint... Just makes things so simple."

Numbers of people who have opened accounts with the charity has doubled in the past year to about 120,000.

Opportunity International so far has seven branches and 11 cash machines - and also has two mobile branches that travel to villages throughout the country.

Fox said that the system has made a huge difference to many of the poorest people in the country and spoke in particular about one trader who sold potatoes in the market in Blantyre.

"Until we opened up in Blantyre... Grace was keeping whatever money she made from selling potatoes under the mattress.... now she puts money on deposit with us twice a week.

"It's the first time she's ever had a bank account so the thrill to me was that she got some self-esteem by having her very first bank account."

Fox said that the ambition is to expand the scheme in other countries in Africa.

He mentioned Ghana and Mozambique as two countries where Opportunity International already operate and where cash machines might soon be introduced.

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