Sarah Rotman Parker

Sarah Parker is a Director, working on the Center for Financial Services Innovation’s (CFSI’s) public thought-leadership. She manages CFSI’s work on financial health, making this more tangible and actionable for providers in how they serve financial consumers. Having come to CFSI from working on financial inclusion internationally, Sarah is motivated to improve the overall financial health of American consumers. Prior to joining CFSI, Sarah worked at CGAP, managing their mobile banking agenda in francophone West Africa and leading global research on electronic government payments.

By Sarah Rotman Parker

Blog

How do Low-Income People in Senegal Manage their Money?

A survey of 1,052 people in Senegal living just above and below the poverty line describes their aspirations, the financial risks they face, and the financial strategies they adopt.
Blog

How do Low-Income People in Cote d’Ivoire Manage their Money?

A survey of 1,000 low-income people in Côte d'Ivoire revealed interesting patterns around how Ivorians manage and approach money.
Research

Microfinance and Mobile Banking: Blurring the Lines?

This paper addresses options MFIs have to leverage m-banking; experiences of MFIs that have served as agents for m-banking ; benefits for MFIs and their customers; why some MFIs hold off on m-banking; and new innovative microfinance business models.
Blog

What Options do MFIs Have to Leverage M-banking?

There is no evidence that MFIs or their customers are driving the development of m-banking. MFIs that are successfully leveraging m-banking tend to be in countries where an m-banking service is already widely used.
Blog

Mobile Money: Even Data Analytics Has Limitations

While quantitative data analysis is a useful first step in understanding active mobile customers, it is even more insightful when providers actually go and talk with their customers directly.