SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) - "If we change the banks' mind, the whole world will change," wrote Muhammad Yunus at the opening of Grameen America's New York City branch last year.

His timing couldn't be better. Yunus's Grameen America bank is betting that what worked on the streets of Bangladesh can work in the United States.

Grameen America provides small loans, known as microloans, and other financial services to individuals living below the U.S. poverty line who want to grow a small business.

As people occupy Wall Street among other places in the country in protest of the increasing dichotomy between the rich and the poor in America, and as the number of people living in poverty grows to record levels, a "Third World America" - as Arianna Huffington puts it - is indeed developing before our eyes.

Financial instruments geared to the less well-off should therefore be in high demand and should be looked at seriously by investors. In fact, it's exactly these types of vehicles that the "occupiers" on Wall Street should be embracing to effect change.

Blocking traffic is one way to gain attention, but that isn't going to change much, if anything, about the economy; Grameen's system would.

Here's how Grameen America works: An individual who lives below the poverty line selects four others in the same predicament and forms a group. Sponsored by Grameen America's bank, the group goes through a five-day financial training program and opens a savings account.

Each borrower gets a small business loan - no collateral or credit history required. Weekly group meetings are held with a credit manager. The borrowers begin to repay their loans and deposit savings.

Over the past year more than 7,000 loans have been disbursed totaling $24 million.