Blog

Where Youth Join Trust Groups, Not Insurgency Groups

By providing a combination of financial and nonfinancial services to over 16,000 smallholders, a social enterprise in northern Nigeria is harnessing the power of agriculture to create jobs for youth and improve livelihoods.

4 Keys to a Successful Developer Portal for Digital Finance APIs

Here are some practical tips on how digital financial services providers can build a first-rate developer portal for their APIs.

Former PAYGo CFO: Smart Subsidies Can Scale Energy Financing

Well-designed subsidies could create a stronger foundation for the solar home system industry and enable it to reach more low-income customers, according to entrepreneur and former PAYGo executive Joshua Romisher.

When Youth Entrepreneurship Training Meets Financial Inclusion

By working together to integrate entrepreneurship training and financial inclusion in Africa, youth-serving organizations and financial services providers could help young people build successful businesses and create jobs.

A New Generation of Government-to-Person Payments Is Emerging

Advances in payment infrastructure are enabling governments to channel payments through multiple providers, giving people greater choice over how to receive payments. This is an important shift with implications for financial services providers, recipients of government payments and financial inclusion.

Cloud Computing for Financial Inclusion: Lessons from the Philippines

For the first time, the Philippine central bank has allowed a bank to move its core banking operations to the cloud. Its approach, balancing caution with forward thinking, holds lessons for regulators in other countries.

Inclusive Growth vs. Household Finance: A False Choice

What’s better for inclusive economic growth: expanding access to financial services among individuals or businesses? Emerging evidence suggests they’re both critical.

Regulator’s Friend or Foe? Cloud Computing in Financial Inclusion

Financial regulators in emerging markets shouldn’t fear cloud computing. When regulated and supervised properly, it can be a boon to financial institutions trying to reach underserved customers. Here are some tips for regulators and supervisors.

Has Fintech Closed the Credit Gap? Not by a Long Shot

If funders want to spur job creation and economic growth, they’ll need to close the credit gap for small businesses in emerging markets. But to do this, they can’t depend solely on fintech.

Cheaper Remittances: How Malaysia and the Philippines Paved the Way

Globally, people pay an average fee of 6.9 percent to send money to family and others abroad. In one of Asia’s largest remittance corridors, between Malaysia and the Philippines, the average fee is only 3.7 percent. Smart policies have played an important role in bringing prices down.

Algorithm Bias in Credit Scoring: What’s Inside the Black Box?

Computers can make faster, better, and less biased lending decisions than humans, but only if human bias hasn’t crept into their algorithms.

Sports Betting: Highway to Hell or On-Ramp to Digital Finance?

Sports betting is pervasive in Africa. What impact is it having on how youth use digital financial services?

3 Principles for Funders of Youth Financial Inclusion

How can donors promote financial inclusion in a way that creates jobs for youth? Here are three guiding principles, based on the Mastercard Foundation's experience in Africa.

Reaching the Next Generation of Financial Services Customers in Africa

A growing body of evidence shows young people's potential as users of financial services in Africa.

Mapping a Pathway to Improved Well-Being for Young People

What are the links between financial services and young people's educational and job opportunities? Here are three insights.

How Do Kenyans Really Use M-PESA?

Transaction data shows mobile money agents are more like petrol stations than barber shops, with few customers showing loyalty to particular agents.

6 Strategies to Promote Digital Financial Product Adoption Among Youth

Here are six insights about how to make financial services appeal to young people, coming out of a digital savings pilot in Tanzania.

Running a Sandbox May Cost Over $1M, Survey Shows

CGAP and the World Bank surveyed regulators across 30 countries to find out how and why they’re using regulatory sandboxes and what it takes to run one.

The Role of Cash In/Cash Out in Digital Financial Inclusion

Getting cash into and out of the digital system remains one of the main barriers to financial inclusion in emerging markets — even in markets where digital financial services are on the rise.

Social Norms and Women’s Financial Inclusion: The Role of Providers

Financial services providers are a part of the societies in which they operate, and their decisions can bolster gender norms that restrict or expand women’s access to financial services.