The big news - in my world at least - is that Loadhub has won Gold as the Most Innovative Cash Product at the 2017 PYMNTS Innovators’ Forum.
As a small Canadian company this was a huge deal. Industry acknowledgement. Our (first) moment in the sun. The first public recognition of what we’ve spent years building and promoting.
We know we won because we got the most votes - obviously, but there was more to it. There was another component to the process where industry experts made a qualitative assessment of the nominees.
From informal conversations, we understand that the features of Loadhub that were viewed most positively include:
- It’s a last-mile solution that connects the physical world to digital payment rails
- It’s rapidly become widely used in multiple use cases
- It extends other payment methods, making them better and more accessible
I’m proud of our team and the technology they’ve created. I’m proud of our long partnership with the forward-thinking retail team at Canada Post. But I’m most proud of the tangible impact Loadhub has had in the battle for financial inclusion. Let me explain:
Loadhub is available everywhere there’s a Post Office. Which is practically every community in the country. So it’s available to everyone equally. The official stat is that there’s a PO within 15km of 98% of the population.
Among many other applications, Loadhub is the reload mechanism used for the Canada Post reloadable Visa card - so it’s handled more than $100mm annually for the last 5 years. We’ve analysed the data and have come to the inescapable conclusion that there are large parts of Canada that are underserved by mainstream banks, and our products are helping to meet the need. Hardly a revelation. But what did surprise us was the strength of the pull from those communities on the various financial products we offer them through the Post Office.
One remote community we’ve looked closely at has a population under 500 persons... yet has over 160 active Canada Post reloadable Visa cardholders. And they used Loadhub to reload each of those cards an average of 19.5 times in 2016. Surprising numbers but far from unique on our network. There are many many similar communities across the country. The spend-data shows exactly what you would hope - groceries, gas, telecom, travel and a lot of ecommerce.
So, clearly geography is a contributor to financial exclusion in Canada and Loadhub contributes to levelling the playing field. While it’s appealing to product owners and program managers because it provides them with bricks & mortar reach to close to 100% of the population, it also enables equality of access for that same percentage of the population. In my view, that’s the real reason Loadhub deserved the gold.
It’s been a great week with a lot to be thankful for.