Brief Description of the Scholarships
The Paul Sumerall Memorial Scholarships will be granted to worthy junior and senior students in college and college/university graduate students who demonstrate an interest in the money transfer industry and who conduct or participate in studies in fields directly related to the international transfer of funds, in any country in the world.
The fields of study can range from financial, economic, social, development, migration and diaspora related, technical advances, consumer behavior, regulatory and compliance related issues, alternative payment methods, market penetration, new products and services, pricing, competition, government programs, etc.
To be eligible the student must fill the online application with all the information required to participate.
Scholarships can use the funds for any type of expense related to the study in question and we expect to receive at completion a copy of the results, document or presentation summarizing the study funded.
• Six scholarships will be awarded per year starting in 2014 (US$ 500 to US$ 2,500) for a total of US $ 10,000.
• Is open to any student located in any place in the world
• The subject of the study must relate to the international transfer of funds (P2P, person-to-person such as family remittances, P2B, person to business such as Bill Payment, and B2P, Business to Person such as pensions) as well as value-transfer systems such as Top-Ups, Retail Coupons, etc.
• The areas of the study are very broad: they include financial, economic, social, development, migration and diaspora related, technical advances, consumer behavior, regulatory and compliance related issues, alternative payment methods, market penetration, new products and services, pricing, competition, Bank & Non-Bank partnerships, government programs, etc.
• After the application has been submitted a selection committee will review the information provided and will do a comparative analysis of the proposals received. Your proposal can be pre-selected or not and you will be immediately informed. If you are pre-selected the judges will decide if they need to contact you by telephone to be placed in the final round where scholarships will be awarded.
• You can only submit one proposal at a time.
• As long as you are a student you can apply even if you are working for a company in the industry. It is important that you disclosed this fact in the application.
• Employees of Merchant Bank of California and their close family members – or someone with whom they share a close personal relationship – cannot be considered as applicants and should not apply to the scholarship. If you have any doubts please inquire.
