A regulatory sandbox is a framework set up by a regulator that allows FinTech startups and other innovators to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment under a regulator’s supervision. In this blog series, CGAP takes a critical look at…
The evidence is in: well-designed financial inclusion initiatives can make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged young women navigating tough transitions. But what exactly do "well-designed" initiatives look like?This series reflects on nearly…
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international standard-setting body for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist/proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) standards. These standards largely determine how individual countries and…
This three-blog series shares findings from research by CGAP along with Decodis and MSC on how people living in poverty in Nigeria and Bangladesh are preparing for, coping with, and adapting to climate shocks, and what role financial services are…
This blog series explores the role of financial services in resilience and adaptability during times of crisis. It offers critical insights into the strategies of customers and financial institutions in navigating crises and explores how the…
Bangladesh turned 50 in 2021. Over the decades since its independence, the country has made significant progress on many measures of development, among them financial inclusion. Bangladesh offers the financial inclusion community an opportunity to…
Big tech platforms from Facebook and Amazon to Alibaba and Tencent are reshaping economies around the world. Increasingly, they are showing interest in entering the financial services space. While platform-based finance has significant potential to…
A diverse set of individuals and microenterprises generate their livelihoods through digital platforms, growing fast in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). In this blog series, CGAP unpacks its extensive research with platform workers…
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world are exploring ways to digitize their operations. While some have achieved success, others have found this to be a difficult, costly endeavor in which success is anything but guaranteed. This blog…
Despite an overall positive trend, the gender gap in financial inclusion remains stubbornly persistent in some parts of the world. To understand what gives rise to this gender gap and how it evolves over time, CGAP and the Bill & Melinda Gates…
Rural women play crucial roles in families, farms, and businesses, but their unique financial aspirations, constraints, and risks – including to climate shocks and stresses – are overlooked and underserved. CGAP and IDH are on a mission to change…
Nearly 500 million micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are estimated to be operating around the world. Access to credit and other financial services is critical to the growth and sustainability of these businesses, and consequentially to the low-…
When COVID-19 hit, it did not take long for questions to emerge about whether the pandemic posed an existential threat to the microfinance sector. CGAP’s research has demonstrated the need to carefully monitor solvency in the longer term as the…
For more than a decade, the CGAP Annual Cross-Border Funder Survey has tracked and reported on international funding commitments for financial inclusion. Each year’s data reveals specific themes worthy of further analysis and emerging priorities for…
Asset finance offers donors and investors a potentially scalable approach to advancing several SDGs. In this blog series, we explore innovations and challenges in asset finance across emerging markets.
The nature of work has changed greatly over the past few decades. So have financial services. To better understand how today’s financial services intersect with people’s changing livelihoods, CGAP is researching how the digital economy and digital…
Cyber-threats have become a growing concern in emerging financial markets and are weakening consumer trust and confidence in digital financial services. Industry players and governments in emerging markets are becoming aware of the need to develop…
Interoperability, the ability for systems to connect and work together, allows for e-mails that pass effortlessly around the world and trains that travel between cities no matter who laid the tracks. Yet interoperability remains largely absent from…
The global microfinance sector faced a crisis in 2020, as many borrowers were unable to repay their loans due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. CGAP’s Global Pulse Survey of Microfinance Institutions, conducted June to December 2020,…
Digital banks have created new possibilities for financial inclusion, but are digital banks actually reaching low-income customers? A new CGAP working paper, “Inclusive Digital Banking: Emerging Markets Case Studies,” presents emerging evidence…
