Gates pledges 500 million dollars to bring banking to poor

Bill Gates, left, smiles with his wife Melinda Gates, during a ceremony honoring the couple with the 2010 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding at the Library of Congress in Washington, on Friday, Oct. 15, 2010. – AP Photo

WASHINGTON: The philanthropic organization set up by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Tuesday pledged 500 million dollars to help give the world’s poorest access to financial services.

Melinda Gates announced the five-year pledge at the first ever Global Savings Forum in Seattle, which has drawn 200 global leaders in development, banking, technology and government, and a member of the Dutch royal family, Princess Maxima, for talks on the role of savings in the developing world.