Blog

How are Mobile Money Agents Protecting Customers’ Data in Uganda?

Recent qualitative research in Uganda conducted by CGAP and MicroSave Consulting (MSC) identified good practices for responsible agents in safeguarding their customers’ data and the role that providers can play in promoting these practices.

State of the Climate-Responsive Financial Product Landscape

EMDEs are hit hardest by climate-related disasters and environmental impacts and will need a variety of financial services to adapt and grow more resilient to climate change. Are they getting them? Our product scan provides preliminary insights.

BNPL in Nigeria: Emerging Fintech Innovations for MSEs

Findings from our recent research suggest BNPL is becoming a significant lending mechanism for Nigerians – especially for micro, small and medium enterprises and self-employed individuals who would not otherwise have access to credit.

Can Open Banking Support Financial Inclusion in Nigeria or Elsewhere?

Open banking initiatives must be well designed to deliver the benefits they promise consumers and financial service providers - Nigeria’s framework offers a look at both the opportunities and potential pitfalls of implementing such a scheme.

Financial Inclusion-Friendly G2P: Recommendations for Stakeholders

G2P transfer experiments during the COVID-19 pandemic collectively demonstrate the importance of “financial inclusion (FI)-friendly” G2P - intentional architecting and implementation that support active DFS usage beyond an initial payment.

When Fiat Fails for Remittances: Testing Cryptocurrency's Potential

Sanctions imposed on the Russian financial system have revealed shortcomings in cryptocurrency's current ability to boost inclusion – crypto users and their exchanges inhabit the offline world where the traditional financial system still holds sway.

Kickstarting CICO Rural Agent Network Innovation: 5 Tips for Funders

Based on pilots in five countries (Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Indonesia, Morocco and Pakistan), we share early insights on how funders can engage with stakeholders in Cash-in Cash-out (CICO) rural agent networks to kickstart innovation.

Reading Findex With A Consumer Protection Lens

This year, the Findex database provided new information on the quality of customers’ journeys in accessing and using financial services, including some of the risks consumers face, and the outcomes they experience - we break down the numbers.

Friend or Foe to the World’s Poor? Settling the Microfinance Debate

Two debates fuel a seemingly never-ending cycle of support and criticism for the microfinance industry. We propose ways to resolve knowledge gaps that perpetuate these debates, which are also relevant for the broader financial inclusion community.

Findex 2021 Insights: Boosting Financial inclusion in Africa

Global Findex 2021 shows Sub-Saharan Africa has made progress in financial account ownership and usage over the past decade but lags behind in closing the financial inclusion gender gap and indicators around the value of financial services.

Growth of Digital Finance in Côte d’Ivoire is Not Without Risks

While digital financial services are driving financial inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire, we are also seeing the emergence of significant consumer risks that will require concerted action from all stakeholders in the digital finance ecosystem to counteract.

Findex and G2P: Are Transfers Translating to Inclusion at Scale?

Governments are enrolling the unbanked into the formal financial system at scale in EMDEs, primarily to facilitate government-to-person (G2P) payments, but do all these accounts with funds flowing into them amount to financial inclusion? Not yet.

Opinion: The Underexploited Potential of the ESG Framework

Originally published by DevEx, CGAP CEO Sophie Sirtaine highlights the need to explore an integrated approach to ESG that incorporates ambitious yet feasible standards to drive positive social impacts while achieving economic and climate objectives.

Consumer Advisory Panels: a Tool to Bridge the Regulator-Consumer Gap

How can FCP authorities bridge the regulator-consumer gap and ensure the financial marketplace is fair and balanced for all consumers? One promising solution is consumer advisory panels, which elevate the collective consumer voice.

Mitigating DFS Consumer Risks: Insights from Sub-Saharan Africa

Emerging evidence shows digital finance consumer risks are increasing and, if not mitigated, could undermine users’ trust. We highlight risks that affect digital financial services users in Sub-Saharan Africa and measures to mitigate them.

Rethinking Consumer Protection: A Responsible Digital Finance Ecosystem

With the rapidly changing digital finance market bringing new risks that can only be addressed through a new, holistic approach to consumer protection, this leadership essay argues that it is now time to build a “responsible digital finance ecosystem”.

When is Interoperability Right for Microfinance?

When is interoperability right for microfinance institutions? We draw on interviews with 40 small financial institutions to unpack the complex picture around a universal approach to ensuring all institutions benefit from real-time, digital payments.

What Gets Measured, Gets Managed: Findex 2021 Insights for the Future

The 2021 Global Findex data provides a promising trajectory for financial inclusion, but reach is just one defining success factor. Is it time for the financial inclusion industry to revisit how we think about and measure success?

Can Kenya’s Fintech Boom Address the MSE Finance Gap?

Kenya has seen an explosion of fintechs and nano credit providers, but they have yet to meaningfully serve MSEs in the country. We explain how fintechs could have a wider reach and distinct value proposition for MSEs in Kenya beyond digital credit.

How Can Data Sharing Support Inclusion?

Data sharing can unlock a number of opportunities for the financial inclusion of poor individuals in EMDEs. To understand how, we must look at the various models of data sharing and how they may result in an inclusive data ecosystem.