The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Union (EU), and Hamkorbank, one of Uzbekistan’s leading banks, today launched a landmark programme to boost rural entrepreneurship and expand financial inclusion targeting nearly 4,000 remittance-receiving households and returnees—migrant workers that came back to their place of origin—in Uzbekistan.

Through a new remittance-based credit scoring model, the money sent back home from family members working abroad and the returnee savings will be recognized as proof of repayment capacity. The scoring system helps overcome some of the traditional barriers that have left many rural people out from the formal banking system due to lack of documented income or credit history.