Blog

How Social Norms for Men Restrict Women’s Financial Inclusion

Addressing social norms that affect men’s role in society and influence their behavior is an important — but largely overlooked — aspect of advancing women’s financial inclusion.

Finding Opportunity in “Interesting Times”

What did 2020 teach us about financial inclusion? Greta Bull reflects on what was, for most people, an especially difficult year and offers her perspective on the year ahead.

Harnessing Fintech in the Arab World: An Opportunity Worth Billions

New research suggests that fintechs in the Arab world could help millions of people and small businesses and generate billions in revenue by serving excluded customers.

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2020

This year's top blog posts reflect the financial inclusion community's need for reliable information about COVID-19 and commitment to supporting an effective global response.

How Financial Services Can Help the Poor in the Climate Transition

Early evidence suggests that the financial sector could play a key role in helping low-income people prepare for and participate in climate transition. However, greater coordination among funders and other sector stakeholders is needed.

The Digital Gender Divide Won’t Close by Itself – Here’s Why

Men and women engage differently with digital services - including digital financial services - because of, among other factors, gendered social norms that don't change nearly as fast as technology.

How Can Funders Avoid Chasing Data as the Latest Shiny Object?

How can the financial inclusion community get more out of data to achieve sustainable impact? Here are four recommendations.

Personas Show How Social Norms Impact Women’s Financial Inclusion

Customer personas rarely reflect the social norms that influence women's financial lives, which limits their usefulness in developing financial services. Here is a five-step process for improving customer personas.

COVID-19 Testing Resilience of Informal E-Commerce in Pakistan

E-commerce conducted on social media has created economic opportunities for many women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Now, this same type of e-commerce is helping some women adapt to the challenges of COVID-19.

Some Countries Have Digital Bank Licenses, Others Have Digital Banks

Some regulators are creating custom banking licenses for digital banks. Others are licensing digital banks with existing licenses. What's the better way to encourage digital banking?

Crédito Fácil: Electric Banking in Colombia

Access to electricity does little good if it can’t be used. Learn how an energy utility in Colombia has helped 1.3 million customers to finance appliances and get more value from their energy.

How Does Tech Make a Difference in Digital Banking?

Digital banks have been innovating faster than traditional banks, and the secret to their ingenuity has a lot to do with the agile business cultures made possible by their modern tech stacks.

Finance Fit for Opportunities and Shocks: What Helps Poor Clients Most

To better understand the impact of financial services on people's lives, providers will need to invest in deeper customer research with the help of the broader financial inclusion community.

What Makes Digital Banking Inclusive?

Just because digital banks can reach low-income customers doesn’t mean that they will. But new evidence suggests that in fact some digital banks are becoming more inclusive and sheds light on how they are reaching low-income customers.

Moratoria During COVID-19: How Are They Working Out?

The unprecedented use of moratoria during the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to examine them as a tool for credit market management.

How India’s Paytm Created More Demand for Its Payments APIs

Paytm, India's largest digital financial services platform, processes millions of dollars via its open APIs. But success with open APIs didn't happen overnight. Learn about the company's innovative approach and why it's paying off.

After the Storm: How Microfinance Can Adapt and Thrive

There has been a need for traditional microfinance to face the challenge presented by digital technology for some time, COVID has simply accelerated this process.

Measuring the Influence of Financial Services on Reaching the SDGs

Learn about UNCDF Impact Pathways, a tool to measure the influence of digital financial services in reaching the SDGs, in this guest blog.

Data Privacy Concerns Influence Financial Behaviors in India, Kenya

For digital financial services providers looking for a competitive edge in developing economies, better data privacy features could be the answer, according to CGAP research from India and Kenya.

The Breaking Point: How Warranties Support Sustainable Asset Finance

Warranties can break down barriers to asset finance for low-income customers. Here's how.