News and Events

Using Mobile Money to Improve Healthcare: CGAP presented at the GSM World Congress in February on the role mobile money will play in developing mobile health solutions.

Retail banking is going mobile: In October, CGAP moderated a session at FinNet on retail banking, featuring John Stanley from Equity Bank in Kenya, Mung-Ki Woo from France Telecom-Orange, and Nadeem Hussein from Tameer Microfinance Bank in Pakistan. Watch the video here

Live Webcast During a Panel at IFC’s FinNet 2010: During a panel at IFC’s FinNet 2010, CGAP will host a live discussion with some of the world's leading mobile money providers (20 October 2010, 2:00 pm EST, 6:00 pm GMT). If you are unable to attend in person, you can follow the discussion on a live webcast.

Financial Inclusion is the Buzz at Dakar Mobile Banking Summit: Policymakers, businesses focus on new technologies to reach poor people with financial services in Francophone Africa.

2010 Mobile Money Summit: CGAP invites you to attend this exciting event, which will stimulate discussion and help build collaborations for all mobile money stakeholders globally, regionally, and locally. The conference agenda includes new topics and issues never before presented (Rio de Janeiro, May 25-26, 2010).

Boost for mobile banking for the unbanked as CGAP, DFID announce new partnership: CGAP announces a new partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to expand ongoing global efforts to use information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phones, to increase access to basic financial services for the poor. In addition to a 2006 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CGAP funding, DFID will provide GBP 8 million to the CGAP Technology Program.

Banking the Poor through G2P Payments Event: The InfoShop, CGAP, and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) sponsored an event promoting the new publication, Banking the Poor via G2P Payments. Panelists discussed how despite the extent to which poor people receive regular payments from governments (more than 170 million people worldwide), fewer than one-quarter of these payments is deposited into a financially inclusive account (World Bank J Building, March 3, 2010).

2010 Digital Money Forum: CGAP is organizing a session focused on technology and unbanked customers at the 2010 Digital Money Forum. The goal of the Forum is to encourage discussion and debate around the real issues of electronic money in all its forms (London, March 10-11, 2010).

Technology Project Profiles have been updated!: Read the latest information about the innovative projects that are testing new strategies in branchless banking. From India to South Africa, the Maldives to Mongolia, our project partners have interesting updates to share.

Helping MFIs Make Better Technology Choices: CGAP releases new IS software reviews: The IS Program, a joint initiative of CGAP and the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme, evaluates products to help MFIs make sense of the many options out there – its Software Listings profiles more than 85 products available for purchase.

Webinar on information systems for microfinance: CGAP online webinar presented results of a new survey on MIS for MFIs. (June 3, 2009. 12:30pm - 2pm EDT.)

GSMA Mobile Money Summit 2009: Mobile banking can bring low-cost financial services to millions of people, especially in developing countries where banking services are not readily available. This event will provide the insights, solutions and connections to make the most of this global phenomenon. (Barcelona, June 22-25)

CGAP and WIZZIT partner on mobile banking for poor people in rural South Africa: CGAP, a microfinance group based at the World Bank, is supporting WIZZIT Bank to deliver banking services to poor people in South Africa’s small towns and rural areas. WIZZIT is a division of the South African Bank of Athens Limited.

Amid crisis, policymakers embrace mobile banking to reach unbanked poor: Despite regulatory challenges and the financial crisis, policymakers are embracing mobile banking as a means of providing financial access to the unbanked poor. More than a billion people worldwide lack bank accounts, but do have mobile phones, providing a dramatic opportunity to achieve greater financial inclusion.

Mobile banking for the unbanked and the financial crisis: CGAP sees growth potential in developing markets: The global microfinance center CGAP is releasing new research and data at the GSM World Congress in Barcelona to encourage telecom operators, financial institutions, and governments to see the business potential in expanding access to financial services for poor people in developing markets. The current economic climate makes the need for widespread availability of safe alternatives to cash even more pressing.

IS Fund Site Relaunched: With a new look and feel and a user-friendly platform, the Information Systems Fund has re-launched its site, this time hosted by CGAP.org.

Mobile banking: CGAP spurs market to reach 25 million people by 2012: The global microfinance resource center CGAP today is making a new four year commitment to identify, fund, research and champion technology enabled banking services for 25 million people in 20 countries.

CGAP Seminar - Banking on Mobiles: Why, How, for Whom?: This is a half-day seminar that will explore questions such as how to design systems that use banking agents while safeguarding the interests of customers and agents and can mobile phone banking really fulfill its potential, and how do microfinance institutions participate.

Mobile Phone Banking to Reach Rural Mongolia: As many as 300,000 Mongolians will be reached by a new mobile phone banking service to be launched by XacBank. The global microfinance body CGAP is supporting XacBank with technical assistance and funding.

Microfinance Technology Survey: Whether you're a small MFI or a big organization, your responses will help build a picture and create awareness of what's going on around information technology for the microfinance industry.