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E-Commerce Is Taking Off in Rural China: 3 Lessons for Other Countries

China's e-commerce market has $2 trillion in annual sales and is growing as digital services reach rural areas. CGAP visited several villages and spoke with farmers and manufacturers about e-commerce. Here's what we learned.

African Digital Credit Goes West

Digital credit is emerging in West Africa. Despite early reports of low default rates, consumer protection policies will be key to avoiding problems witnessed in East Africa.

How Fintechs Could Digitize Store Credit in the Arab World

People in the Arab world rely on store credit almost twice as much as people in other regions. Here are three ways fintechs could digitize this type of credit.

Smart Phones, Smart Partners: Linking Asset Finance and Microfinance

One company offers microcredit. The other offers PAYGo financing for smartphones, tablets and solar home systems. In what may be a template for other microfinance institutions, they are helping each other to reach more low-income customers.

BTPN Wow! Using Open APIs to Bring E-Commerce to Its 250,000 Agents

By connecting its agents to e-commerce platforms, BTPN is giving agents and end-customers in Indonesia more reasons to use its mobile banking service.

Mapping Fintech Innovations in the Arab World

Where is fintech innovation happening in the Arab world? What types of solutions are emerging? CGAP shares preliminary results from our research on fintech in a region with roughly 140 million financially excluded adults.

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.

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.

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.

Expanding the Horizons of Pay-as-You-Go Solar

As PAYGo solar companies seek to expand into new and challenging markets, they will need to lower their costs and improve repayment rates.

4 Next-Gen Fintech Models Bridging the Small Business Credit Gap

There is a staggering $4.9 trillion financing gap for micro and small businesses in emerging markets. These fintech models stand out for their ability to solve small businesses' credit needs at scale.

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.

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.

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.

From Smartphones to Solar Panels: Are Asset Finance Advances Pro-Poor?

Can asset financing improve the lives of low-income customers? And if so, which assets and financing approaches hold the most promise?

Is Digital Banking Better Banking for the Bottom of the Pyramid?

Digital banks are emerging in many developing countries. Can they do a better job than traditional banks of providing low-income customers with useful financial services?