Recent Blogs
Blog
How Did Bancolombia Create a Successful Rural Agent Network at Scale?
Bancolombia is a great example of a provider that's been successful in developing rural agent business models at scale, therefore playing a critical role in furthering financial inclusion. Here, we look at the factors that explain their success.Blog
Peruvian Authorities Pilot Tool to Improve Consumer Listening
CGAP and Accenture LLP (Accenture) launched a pilot to help Peruvian authorities assess their consumer listening mechanisms and determine the necessary steps to design an integrated financial consumer protection platform.Blog
Mobile Payments Take Shape in Latin America & the Caribbean
Mobile payments took hold over a decade ago, but Latin America didn't experience the traction seen elsewhere. Since then, two emerging business models for digital payments in Colombia and Haiti achieved particular success. What did they get right?Blog
How Peru Is Elevating the Collective Consumer Voice
The steps Peru has taken to ensure consumers have a strong voice in financial consumer protection regulation may be instructive for other countries working to protect vulnerable consumers.Blog
How SMS Messaging Can Change Financial Behaviors
Pilots with mobile money providers in the Philippines and Paraguay showed that simple SMS messaging can increase mobile wallet transactions.Blog
Will Brazil Go Digital?
Small and medium banks in Brazil are starting to take advantage of new regulations that make it easier to adopt fully digital business models. What impact might this development have on financial inclusion in the longer term?Blog
Sowing Opportunities and Growing Possibilities in Paraguay
In Paraguay, a partnership between Fundación Capital and the government of Paraguay offers a compelling example of how the Graduation Approach can be integrated into public policy to halt extreme poverty.Blog
Cash or Cow? Weighing Monetary vs. In-Kind Asset Transfer
As Graduation Approaches have spread and scaled, so too have the discussions of the best approaches. Fundación Capital believes that programs should focus on in-cash rather than in-kind asset transfers. Why? Read more about the case for cash.Blog
How a Retail Chain Became Mexico’s No. 1 Bank Account Supplier
Saldazo, a Visa debit card product co-branded with Banamex bank, has made Mexico’s largest corner store retail chain – OXXO – the country’s number one transactional account supplier. Here are some key success factors, challenges and insights from this project.Blog
Those Star-Ratings Do Matter for Financial Inclusion
CGAP recently partnered with MercadoLibre, Latin America’s largest online retailer, to assess the potential of alternative data to boost financial inclusion. This research found that e-commerce data can be a powerful credit risk predictor for underbanked and unbanked people.Blog
Graduation Case Studies: An Opportunity to Learn & Scale Up
To further understand the opportunities and challenges faced by governments in the implementation of a Graduation Approach, the Ford Foundation has commissioned three case studies to examine the planning and execution of Graduation programs launched by the governments of Colombia, Peru and Ethiopia.Blog
The Replication Limits of M-Pesa in Latin America
Is the challenge of replicating the success of the M-Pesa model in Kenya more about implementation and management or about context and market structure? In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the evidence points to context.Blog
Catalyzing Graduation with Village Savings and Loan Associations
In Haiti, Fonkoze recognized a need for post-graduation support for participants of its Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM) (Pathway to a Better Life) program. One of the most promising solutions to date is the village savings and loan association (VSLA).Blog
Building a Toolbox for Bundling Services
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, could the bundling of credit with non-credit financial services be a viable solution for FSPs? EA Consultants designed and implemented a study with Crezcamos in Colombia to find out.Blog
Colombia’s Recipe for 100% Agent Coverage: Aggregation & Sharing
Universal coverage is a fundamental building block toward universal financial access. Last year Colombia announced that all of its 1,100+ municipalities had at least one banking agent serving customers in need of financial services. How did Colombia do it?Blog
Tech Relief for the High Cost of Field Research
Client-centered research can be expensive and logistically challenging. How can technology simplify this process?Blog
Reaching the Ultra Poor in Latin America
An interview with Alexandra N. Barrantes, of the OAS, on opportunities and challenges for the Graduation Approach in Latin America.Blog
Small Business Finance and Financial Inclusion in Latin America
Limited acceptance of digital payments and high fees associated with using such services are two obstacles to greater financial inclusion in Latin American countries. Can these issues be solved at the retailer level, rather than the individual level?Blog
DaviPlata: Taking Mobile G2P Payments to Scale in Colombia
DaviPlata, a mobile wallet offered by Banco Davivienda in Colombia, is an application helping to shift social safety net payments – often paid in cash – to digital delivery.Blog