Recent Blogs
Is Climate Change Undermining Financial Inclusion? Early Evidence Says Yes
Early evidence from Pakistan confirms the need to shore up the financial institutions that serve vulnerable populations facing climate impacts, as climate risk threatens to undermine global progress on financial inclusion.
Avanti’s Digital Edge: Winning for Customers, Partners, and Growth
Avanti Finance leverages technology and partnerships to provide affordable, accessible financial services to low-income households in India, focusing on women. Their digital processes enhance efficiency, scalability, and customer experience.
Convenience Drives Rapid Adoption of Account Aggregators in India
Open finance in India has grown rapidly, with a significant rise in linked accounts through Account Aggregators (AAs). New CGAP research offers insights on key drivers of AA adoption and areas for improvement to enhance customer experience.
Fueling Micro-Retail: FMCGs & E-Commerce in Action
Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies have a significant opportunity to enhance their supply chain efficiency, expand their market reach, and improve operational effectiveness by leveraging B2B (Business-to-Business) e-commerce platforms.
Sowing the Seeds of Resilience: Can AI Empower Women in Agriculture?
AI is everywhere. But can it boost rural women’s agricultural income? While not a silver bullet, AI can potentially create value for rural women in agriculture. We discuss 4 key areas where there is action and opportunity around AI for women in ag.
Customer Focus Brings Green Technology to Rural Women in India
Customer-centricity means understanding people's financial needs and realities. Sistema.bio in India uses this approach to offer affordable biodigesters to rural women, leveraging carbon credits.
Seven Insights From Samunnati on Income Diversification
In collaboration with CGAP and IDH under ABERA, Samunnati drives business innovation and gender and climate goals. Together, they've identified seven insights on income diversification for women in India, detailed in this blog.
Trust and Awareness Will Be Key for Open Finance Adoption in India
India is pioneering open finance in developing economies, with 64 million accounts linked through its Account Aggregator ecosystem as of March 2024. As India continues to scale the ecosystem, early insights could help shape AA's future direction.
Adapting to or Just Muddling Through Climate Change?
The second blog in our series with Decodis and MSC explores our research finding that many poor households are just muddling through climate events rather than strategically adapting to long-term climate change in ways that enhance their resilience.
Maturing India Stack Drives Digital Financial Inclusion of Gig Workers
India Stack, India’s robust DPI, supports a host of financial services products for harder-to-reach segments like gig workers – a good example for other countries that want to leverage digitization of work for financial inclusion of informal workers.
Climate Resilience Through Financial Services: Farzana’s Story
Women, especially those in low-income countries, are faced with higher risk, greater vulnerability, and fewer tools to cope with the impacts of climate change. Financial services can empower women to manage climate risks and build resilience.
Doing Good by Doing Well: Women Banking Agents in India
In India's Bihar state, women Bank Sakhi agents help enable financial inclusion for rural, vulnerable, and hard-to-reach customers, more so than the traditional agents - but various gender norms constrain how they operate. We discuss solutions.
Regulators Eye Digital Credit in India: What Does it Mean for MSEs?
The growth of India’s fintech industry has historically been driven by digital payments, but now digital credit is poised to take the reins. But what is digital credit, and how can its regulation help narrow the credit gap for India’s MSEs?
High Tech, High Touch: Bringing Formal Loans to Rural India
Despite its success developing digital public infrastructure to enable inclusive financial development, India still faces challenges in bringing formal credit to rural and low-income households. A new app supported by CGAP aims to provide a solution.
We Agree – Life Stages Likely Impact DFS Usage Among Young Women
Certain life stages have a significant impact on women’s economic empowerment and use of financial services - particularly for young women.
Pakistan: Gender-Intentional Policy Can Make Agent Banking Work Better
Many women in Pakistan remain financially excluded, partly because social norms limit their access to banking agents. Policy makers and regulators can help change this with a gender-intentional approach to agent banking.
Bangladesh’s COVID-19 Response Is Taking Digital Finance to New Levels
Bangladesh’s policies in response to COVID-19 have enabled more low-income people to benefit from digital financial services.
Analyzing Social Media to Spot Digital Consumer Credit Risks in India
Last year, news reports emerged of aggressive debt collection amid India's digital credit boom. New research shows that early warning signs on social media preceded the reports, highlighting the value of social media for consumer protection.
Cool in Crisis: How Bangladeshi MFIs Stay Resilient
Through flood, drought and famine, Bangladesh's microfinance industry has survived over the decades and continued to serve low-income customers in times of crisis. What has made Bangladeshi microfinance institutions so resilient?