Blog

Looking Beyond the Average Impact of Financial Inclusion

Research on whether financial services improve poor people's well-being offers mixed — seemingly contradictory — results. To extract useful lessons about why financial inclusion has different impacts in different places, we need to focus on one thing: context.

Funder Support for Regulatory Reform in Financial Inclusion

Funding for regulatory reform constitutes a small but crucial part of funder support for financial inclusion worldwide. Is it having the intended impact?

It’s Time to Change the Equation on Consumer Protection

For financial inclusion to work for the poor, it’s time to move beyond consumer protection frameworks that are more about protecting providers than customers.

Should Digital Financial Services Providers Prioritize Open APIs?

Do open APIs make sense for your company? Which ones? Following these five steps can help you get your API strategy off the ground.

$4.9 Trillion Small Business Credit Gap: Digital Models to the Rescue

CGAP estimates that there is a $4.9 trillion credit gap for micro and small businesses in emerging markets.

Is Poverty Reduction the Right Outcome for Financial Services?

Today, the global development community generally accepts that poverty is more than just a lack of income. What do multidimensional concepts of poverty mean for those who see poverty reduction as the ultimate goal of financial inclusion?

It Pays to Be Patient with Fintech Innovation

Take a look at some fintech pilots that didn't go as initially expected but yielded important insights about how to make better financial products.

Diagnosing Social Norms in Women’s Financial Inclusion Programming

Funders must develop a deeper understanding of how to tackle social norms that restrict women's financial inclusion. Lessons from CGAP’s research in Turkey help point the way.

These Emerging Fintech Innovations Are Centered on Poor Customers

After two years of piloting with 18 fintechs around the world, CGAP has identified several fintech innovations that advance financial inclusion.

Stepping Back: Product, Collections and Credit Risk in PAYGo Solar

While PAYGo solar companies can lower delinquency rates by improving their credit risk management practices, improving repayment starts with even more fundamental factors: having an affordable, quality product and effective collections.

Financial Health and the Impact of Financial Inclusion

Financial health has emerged as a useful framework for talking about whether financial services improve poor people's ability to manage their financial lives. But how can we understand whether better financial management improves people's well-being?

PAYGo Solar Opens Pathways to Microfinance in Rural Senegal

A microfinance institution and pay-as-you-go solar company have teamed up to expand rural, low-income customers' access to microfinance based on their solar loan repayment histories.

Do Regulatory Sandboxes Impact Financial Inclusion? A Look at the Data

CGAP estimates that less than 25 percent of sandbox-tested solutions address financial inclusion. Here's how to change this.

How Useful Is “Usage” in Measuring Financial Inclusion’s Impact?

Financial account usage rates can tell us a lot about the state of financial inclusion, but high usage shouldn’t be confused with impact on customers’ lives.

We Need to Talk About Credit

Digital credit is a testament to the ways in which technology and new business models can assist in the expansion of financial services to low-income households. But it also points to potential hazards of letting a market develop unchecked.

The 10-Year Challenge: How Has Financial Inclusion Funding Changed?

Funding for financial inclusion quadrupled between 2007 and 2017. However, greater coordination is needed to ensure funders focus on filling gaps in the sector without duplicating efforts and they build interventions based on their comparative advantage.

2 Financial Services That Increase Smallholders’ Food Security

Evidence from around the world shows that savings and insurance help smallholder farmers to reduce hunger and manage production risks.

You’ve Opened APIs...Now What?

Shamir Karkal shares five tips on how digital financial services providers can get their open APIs into the hands of innovative developers.

Learning from Financial Inclusion Research: What Should We Expect?

Impact evaluations, reviews, reviews of reviews— there's no shortage of research on whether and how financial inclusion impacts the poor. What should we expect to learn from this growing body of work?

3 Ways Financial Inclusion Improves Women’s Food Security

There is evidence that financial inclusion improves food security for women in at least three ways.