Recession-proof banking?

Finance | Grameen Bank and microfinance guru Muhammad Yunus came to America just a year ago with ideas—and success stories—on how the poor can survive a credit crunch | Emily Belz

Levy Bruno/Sipa

NEW YORK—There he was—silver-haired and in a Bengali tunic—arguably the most popular banker of the year in New York City. As soon as he stepped out on the street in Queens, vendors at an outdoor market abandoned their wares—necklaces, a cart of Italian ice, rice pudding, and yards and yards of saris—to get a picture with him and shake his hand. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his development of a microfinance model that has spread around the world, is as famous as a rock star among Asians just about anywhere. He offered high fives and hugs in return.

Yunus, who turns 69 this month, brought his revolutionary model to New York just over a year ago. Grameen America, a microfinance bank that provides loans to low-income entrepreneurs, is "banking for the unbanked" as its slogan goes.

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June 20, 2009, Vol. 24, No. 12

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