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Digital Payments Matter More for Public Services: 3 Reasons Why

Water utilities and other public service providers can benefit in at least three ways from digital payments.

How Bangladesh Digitized Education Aid for 10 Million Families

In just months, Bangladesh digitized financial aid payments for education to millions of families. What can other countries learn from this rapid transition to digital payments?

Building Rural Digital Ecosystems, One Small Payment at a Time

New research shows that digitizing everyday payments as person-to-person transfers can be a sustainable way for providers to reach customers in rural areas.

How Ghana Became One of Africa’s Top Mobile Money Markets

Mobile money account ownership tripled in Ghana from 2014 to 2017, making the country one of the fastest growing mobile money markets in Africa. How? Smart regulations played a key role.

Public Clearinghouse Could Shake Up China’s Mobile Payment Market

China will soon require payments providers, including Alipay and WeChat Pay, to connect to a public online payments clearinghouse. Here’s what we know so far about how this institution will work and what it could mean for mobile payments.

Super Platforms in Africa: Not if, but When

Super platforms like Ant Financial are likely to expand into Africa and impact financial services providers, regulators and customers.

QR Codes and Financial Inclusion: Reasons for Optimism

QR codes are gaining traction in China as a way to make digital payments, but will they catch on in other countries?

What Can Mobile Money Make Possible? China Has Many Answers

What's the secret to Alipay and WeChat Pay's success in mobile payments? Creating in-app universes of bundled services has played a big role by making mobile payments more useful to customers.

Financial Inclusion in 2018: BigTech Hits Its Stride

CGAP CEO Greta Bull explores how large platform players like Google, Facebook and Ant Financial are likely to shape financial inclusion in 2018.

Inside QR Codes: How Black & White Dots Simplify Digital Payments

QR codes last year facilitated $2.5 trillion in retail payments in China, and their use is gaining momentum in countries like India. But how do they work? And what is their potential to increase financial inclusion?

Benefits and Burdens of Digital Retail Payments

Payments providers in emerging markets could earn billions if more merchants start accepting digital payments. But what are the opportunities for poor customers?

Merchant Payments: What About the Customers?

Shifting retail payments away from cash to digital instruments will require strong buy-in from end customers, who tend to like cash. How might they be persuaded?

Will Digital Payments Unlock Financial Access for Small Business?

Bundling digital payments with services that address common challenges for merchants could expand access to finance for small businesses.

A $1.5 Trillion Tip on Cracking Merchant Payments

The card industry once faced a challenge in retail payments familiar to today’s mobile money providers: competitors were building their own acceptance networks, limiting the usefulness of their services. The card industry’s solution could hold a valuable lesson for today.

India’s Latest Advances in Financial Inclusion: A Day in Royyuru

See how India’s Aadhaar-enabled payments system is making digital payments easy and convenient in the village of Royyuru.

Can User-Friendly Payment Methods Improve Repayment Rates?

When PEG Africa piloted more user-friendly mobile payment methods for its pay-as-you-go solar customers, users started paying more often and in significantly higher amounts than other customers.

What Keeps People from Paying with Their Phones?

To find out why more people aren't going digital in Ghana, CGAP partnered with pay-as-you-go solar company PEG Africa and mobile network operator Tigo Ghana.

Transactions Want to Be Free

Imagine a world where anyone could move money instantly across providers at no cost. Three trends are making free transactions more likely today than ever before.

Traders in Refugee Camps: Overlooked Opportunity in Bulk Payments

Lolem Boyo Emilat is a trader in Kenya’s Kalobeyei settlement, where mobile payments have transformed her small business. Could bringing mobile money to more traders like Lolem be an overlooked opportunity to advance financial inclusion?

Innovation in Mobile Money: What Are the Risks?

As mobile money continues to evolve, new kinds of fraud are emerging. Here are some steps that providers and regulators can take to keep up.