Guardian Bank - faith-informed financial services for the poor
From a video by Faith&Co
How does the gospel change a bank’s view of people and how they should be treated, especially those of modest means?
Banks are largely impersonal, making it easy to get loans and good service if you are wealthy and quite difficult if you aren’t. The whole system is set up to avoid risk, tying creditworthiness more to capital than character.
Inspired by faith that sees the infinite worth of each person, Guardian Bank in India takes a different, more humane and hopeful view that also provides hope for everyday households and commercial customers.
Their Founder, Collin Timms, and CEO, Sharon Joseph (now retired) take up the story:
Banking is a business of risk, and risk is always linked to fear. You've given somebody some money, and now you have this fear. Will he pay me back, or not? Will he pay the bank back? But, at Guardian Bank, we've gone to the extent to saying we are a bank of hope, rather than fear.
Money lending is the world's second oldest profession. It is a very common practice in the informal sector in India for people to borrow money, and then the lender tells them "All you have to do is pay me back the interest." And the interest is quoted as a percentage point per week or per month.
Very often the borrower is not able to do the math to realize what this translates into. Very often, the borrower has now become the victim of the lender. At best, it bears a huge amount of penalty for being poor. At worst, you will become the slave of the lender forever.
Normally in other banks, you bring your income statement, you bring certain documents. So unless you had certain salary, you are not able to have that credit facility from a bank. Collin wanted to create a bank where finance would be available for these type of people, because we want to take a more humane view and see how we could help them.
Many people come to the bank and say "We have borrowed from the money lenders, can you help us?" So Guardian Bank pays the money lender and relieves them of that. They are given a monthly instalment which they're paying - interest and a reducing principal.
In Guardian Bank, the way we look at risk is just not paperwork, but also talking to them and finding out more about them. Sometimes this doesn't happen in just one interview, we may need to call them back, and sometimes we ask for their spouse to come, so that we are able to talk to them.
Yes, there are people who have taken loans from us and who have misused the money, and we have struggled to get it back. But over the years, we have developed that sense as we talk to people, "Hey, this is going to work or this is not going to work."
We're beginning to feel more and more that we are able to be a successful bank, because, a lot of people here are people of faith. They're used to this uncertainty. In fact, you can't join Guardian Bank if you worked for another bank. You have to be a fresh, first class commerce graduate and then you are put through a training, and we weed out people who think that they are too good for the client who comes to us.
You have to serve by empathizing with the person sitting opposite you, and going that extra mile to do whatever is in your power to help him or her with their financial problems. We've gone to the extent of saying this is a vocation, not occupation or profession.
I know that we have definitely made a difference in thousands of people's lives, enabling them to come out of debt, change their entire lifestyle, and change their economic status too.
There is always uncertainty, and with that uncertainty, there is hope, and therefore there is faith. The faith is that, over the past years, we have built a culture of people who are deeply ingrained with this belief that they're here to serve. And so we dare to call ourselves a bank of hope, and we hope that we still are worthy of that title.
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From a video by Faith&Co, 21/01/2026