Blog

Understanding Côte d’Ivoire’s Financially Excluded Women

Women are 45 percent less likely than men in Côte d’Ivoire to have a mobile money account. Low mobile phone ownership and financial innumeracy remain major barriers.

The Time for Data Protection Legislation Is Now

Data protection concerns are growing in emerging markets. Here are some data protection challenges that should be on policy makers' radars.

Teller to Techie: Empowering All Employees to Act on Customer Insights

Sometimes the employees who don’t interact with customers have the greatest impact on the customer experience. Making it easier for all employees to act on customer insights can help companies grow while advancing financial inclusion.

One Thing Regulators Should Do Before Launching a Sandbox

Financial regulators should consult with industry early and often if they are thinking about creating a regulatory sandbox.

MTN Uganda Opens Up Mobile Money APIs

Uganda's largest telco just opened APIs that enable local developers to build apps that leverage its popular mobile money platform. Here are some lessons learned from MTN Uganda's open APIs journey so far.

What APIs Are Digital Financial Services Providers Opening?

What types of APIs are digital financial service providers opening in developing countries? CGAP has been keeping track and spotting trends.

Digital Credit Helping to Put Kids in Classrooms in Cote d'Ivoire

By partnering with farmers’ cooperatives to offer an innovative digital credit product, Advans is seeing high repayment rates and having an impact on school attendance in rural Cote d'Ivoire.

Cybersecurity for Mobile Financial Services: A Growing Problem

By the time Jonathon knew something was wrong, all the money in his mobile wallet had been stolen. What happened, and how can providers and policy makers better protect customers like Jonathon from cyber criminals?

Global Financial Innovation Network: Not Global Yet

The rapidly evolving FinTech space has many regulators worried about their ability to keep pace. A new global network of regulators aims to offer practical guidance and promote cooperation in the space, but to succeed it will need a diverse membership.

Growth vs. Sustainability: Credit Risk in PAYGo Solar

Rapid customer growth in pay-as-you-go solar can come with a cost: too many customers that don’t repay. Is it time to focus on reducing credit risk? To better understand the realities and challenges of running a PAYGo credit operation, we recently spoke with the people who live with it: heads of credit and risk at PAYGo solar companies, equity investors and creditors.

How Regulators Can Foster More Responsible Digital Credit

Regulators can help ensure digital credit helps, rather than harms, poor customers by taking these steps.

Where Do We PAYGo from Here? PAYGo Beyond Solar

Pay-as-you-go financing is increasing poor people’s access to life-changing assets beyond home solar systems, from solar-powered water pumps to smartphones.

Pakistan Enigma: Why Is Financial Inclusion Happening So Slowly?

Just 21 percent of adults have accounts in Pakistan, despite decades of support for financial inclusion. What could accelerate progress?

Using a Gamified Solution to Incentivize Mobile Money Agents

Empowering mobile money agents to provide exceptional customer service can be challenging. In Indonesia, BTPN has an innovative solution that uses gamification.

Super Platforms: Connecting Farmers to Markets in Africa

In Africa, super platforms aren't just connecting customers and merchants. They're also connecting farmers to markets.

Client Registration: The Blind Spot in Agricultural Insurance

This agricultural insurance provider tripled its product registration rates in rural Nigeria by improving its registration process.

Financial Innumeracy: A Global Problem for Digital Finance?

Mounting evidence suggests financial innumeracy presents a bigger barrier to financial inclusion than is often acknowledged. Here are three ways to improve numeracy.

4 Regulatory Enablers for Digital Finance: A Gender Perspective

Unless policies consider gender, we risk leaving behind the most vulnerable in society, particularly women, limiting our ability to achieve the SDGs. However, if implemented with gender in mind, the basic regulatory enablers of digital finance can increase women's financial inclusion.

Collaborative Customer Due Diligence: New Ways Forward

Financial services providers, regulators and financial intelligence agencies around the world are working more closely together on customer due diligence, often with the help of new technologies. How can financial inclusion benefit?

It's Time to Slow Digital Credit's Growth in East Africa

New research from Kenya and Tanzania reveals that digital credit is often used for consumption purposes and that delinquency and default rates are high, suggesting funders of digital credit markets should prioritize consumer protection.