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New Bill, Big Changes in Digital Financial Services in Uganda

In Uganda, the recently-passed Financial Inclusion Act Amendment Bill provides legal grounds for positive changes in the field of digital financial services, in terms of allowing new business models and greater choice and protection for customers.

Tigo Nivushe, Tanzania: 5 Ways to Build Trust in Digital Lending

‘We will trust you until you give us a reason not to:’ Tigo launches an innovative mobile lending product in Tanzania.

Digitizing Agriculture Value Chains: Seasonal Cash Flows

Examining the cash flows of coffee and sugar farmers in Uganda for a CGAP-commissioned project revealed a seasonal cycle that is unsuited to monthly accounting practices. There are many ways that financial services could be designed to assist these farmers.

Instant, Automated, Remote: The Key Attributes of Digital Credit

Three attributes - instant, automated, and remote - underscore the power of digital credit and its ability to scale quickly.

Salam: Both a Greeting & Innovative Agricultural Financing Option

For over 6 million smallholder farmers in Pakistan, financing options are extremely limited. The Wasil Foundation, winner of the 2013 Islamic Microfinance Challenge, offers an alternative to traditional financing that enables farmers to build assets and sustainable livelihoods.

Safaricom Launches Feature to Stop Erroneous Transfers: Hakikisha

Safaricom recently launched an additional functionality “Hakikisha” on the M-Pesa Menu in Kenya, which will enable subscribers to confirm a recipient’s name before completing an M-Pesa transaction. Hakikisha has been under pilot for the last month.

Driving Smallholder Savings through Digital Design in Senegal

After interviewing 65 smallholder farmers and savings groups, CGAP and Dalberg uncovered potential for alternative ways to offer financial services to farmers that go beyond credit.

Payment Innovations in Turkey: Not (Yet) Reaching the Unbanked

Innovations on payment systems in Turkey have the potential to move beyond the current reach of bank accounts and cards.

Turkish Banks at the Forefront of MSME Lending, but Gaps Remain

A look at lending to microenterprises in Turkey, in the second blog in a series about financial inclusion in the country in 2015.

Fixing the Hidden Charges in Lipa na M-Pesa

Kenyan regulators took action to disclose Lipa na M-Pesa’s pricing structure. The move highlights a growing problem as digital financial services expand: Existing financial consumer protection rules are not being enforced consistently on these delivery channels.

A Multi-Digit Divide? Building Basic Financial Numeracy

The behavior and practices of "oral communities" - where most people are illiterate - may help to explain both the scale of account dormancy in mobile money and the prevalence of over-the-counter (OTC) mobile money services.

New Tools to Accommodate Old Financial Habits: Key for DFS Usage

Digital services that are able to replicate what poor people already do informally, in everyday life, may be critical to starting new customers on a path to using money in new ways.

Deposit Insurance for Digital Financial Products: 3 Approaches

Countries have adopted three approaches to addressing digital "deposit-like" products when it comes to including them in the deposit insurance system.

Cutting the Cost of Remittances

For migrant workers, the costs of remitting money remains high. However, three trends that could disrupt the remittances status quo are emerging.

Lessons Learned from Digital Microinsurance ‘Sprinters’

A number of mobile insurance initiatives have achieved exceptional scale in a short period of time. There are at least 7 keys to success.

myAgro, HCD, and Supporting Smallholder Savings in Senegal

myAgro, CGAP, and IDEO.org are partnering to use human-centered design to further align product offerings in Senegal with smallholders’ behaviors, needs, and aspirations.

Designing Digital Financial Services for Cambodian Smallholders

As Cambodian providers continue to develop innovative new digital financial products and services, tailoring them to the unique needs of smallholder households remains a significant challenge.

Three Questions for Determining if a New Product is a Deposit

This first post in a new series on deposit insurance and digital financial inclusion focuses on the basic, but not easy question, of how to define a “deposit.”

Savings Groups Fuel Digital Design for Smallholders in Rwanda

Interviews with over 75 farmers, banking officials, traders, co-ops, and savings groups in Rwanda offer key insights to drive the design of new digital financial services and products.

Five Things Any Youth Savings Program Needs

Women’s World Banking and Banco ADOPEM present five key lessons about serving youth with financial services.