Kate Lauer

Kate Lauer is a lawyer and a policy advisory consultant to CGAP with more than 25 years of experience in international finance and microfinance. She works on identifying and developing solutions to the regulatory and policy barriers to financial inclusion, both at the national and global levels. Globally, Kate works with global standard-setting bodies on regulation and supervision of institutions engaged in financial inclusion, including the Basel Consultative Group’s Financial Inclusion Workstream.

Kate began her career at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, & Hamilton and then served as in-house counsel for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Later she served as vice president and assistant general counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Kate has a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth College. She is proficient in French and has a basic knowledge of Spanish and Hebrew.

By Kate Lauer

Blog

What is Digital Financial Inclusion and Why Does it Matter?

A new Brief from CGAP aims to provide national and global policy makers with a clear picture of the rapid development of digital financial services for the poor and the need for their attention and informed understanding.
Research

Facilitating the Market for Capacity Building Services

This Focus Note addresses the question: what does it take to facilitate a sustainable, commercially viable market for capacity building services delivered to financial service providers?
Blog

Funding 2.0: Building Inclusive Financial Markets

Building a financial market that serves the poor requires more than supporting institutions. It also requires coordinating underlying elements - such as educating consumers, drafting appropriate laws, and building capacity in organizations.
Research

Facilitating Market Development to Advance Financial Inclusion

Emerging evidence from countries benefiting from donor and DFI interventions that are coordinated, catalytic, and responsive to the market show significant increases in access to financial services.
Blog

Where The Wild Things Are: Measuring Market Development Progress

Being able to measure and demonstrate progress are critical issues as taxpayers and other funders of donors and DFIs require explanations and justifications of the use of their limited resources. A handful of donors are starting to experiment with different tools for measuring progress in agricultural and other non-financial markets. It is difficult work, especially when attempting to measure attributable and sustainable changes to a market system.