Blog

Financial Inclusion and Resilience for FDPs in the Time of COVID-19

Learn about the recently launched "We Build Bridges: Roadmap to the Sustainable and Responsible Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons," in this guest post from BMZ and IRC.

Open Banking: 7 Ways Data-Sharing Can Advance Financial Inclusion

When banks and other financial institutions responsibly exchange customer data with other providers, the result is better products for low-income customers.

Asset Finance Innovations Can Advance SDGs – If They Scale Responsibly

New asset finance business models are breaking down old barriers to putting life-changing assets into the hands of poor households. But to meaningfully advance SDGs, they’ll need to scale responsibly, and this is where funders can play a role.

Kenya’s Expansion of G2P Becomes Lifeline During COVID-19 Crisis

Kenya offers higher fees to providers that facilitate digital government-to-person payments in underserved areas. Today, this makes it easier to reach hundreds of thousands of low-income people with assistance during the COVID-19 crisis.

Agent Networks: Vital to COVID-19 Response, in Need of Support

Digital payments are central to the global COVID-19 response, but the agent networks that distribute these funds are struggling to remain open. Here are three questions policy makers must answer to ensure agents reach as many people as possible.

Customers Want Data Protection: How Can Open API Providers Deliver?

Open APIs can benefit digital financial services providers and low-income customers alike, but they pose data protection and privacy challenges. Here are some tips on how providers can address those challenges.

The Best Laid Plans...CGAP's Response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

CGAP spent time thinking about how we can add unique value to a coordinated crisis response. The work we are doing to combat the effects of coronavirus is refocusing those efforts in new and unanticipated ways.

COVID-19 Exposes Risks and Opportunities in Kenya's Gig Economy

Gig workers in Kenya report major disruptions to business and depleted savings due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), while platforms signal eagerness to facilitate government-to-person payments or loans to hard-hit workers.

What’s a Donor to Do? The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on the Poor

Inclusive financial systems are understood to be part of the solution to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, donors are often unclear how most effectively to tailor their interventions. In this Leadership Essay, Michael Tarazi outlines a path forward.

Financial Scams Rise as Coronavirus Hits Developing Countries

As COVID-19 (coronavirus) spreads in developing countries, a surge in financial scams requires action from governments and financial services providers.

COVID-19: How Does Microfinance Weather the Coming Storm?

If the microfinance sector is going to survive the pandemic, we need to treat COVID-19 as the fundamental threat to the industry that it likely is. The millions who rely on inclusive finance to borrow, save and spend money are counting on us.

3 Trends in Women’s Financial Inclusion Funding

Funding for women's financial inclusion is on the rise, but just 10 percent of financial inclusion programs are identified as having a gender component, according to the CGAP Funders Survey.

India’s Proposed Data Protection Bill Breaks from Notice and Consent

The proposed bill would mark a significant advance in rethinking how to protect digital consumer rights, putting India at the forefront of modern data protection regimes.

What Do Low-Income Customers Want from Asset Finance?

Here are six lessons for offering asset finance to low-income customers, based on in-depth interviews with dozens of asset finance providers and their customers in developing countries.

How Can Licensing Regimes Keep Up with Financial Innovation in 2020?

Tech giants, digital banks, e-money issuers, fintech startups — as more diverse players enter the financial services space, they are becoming harder for regulators to classify and license. Here are four ways regulators can respond in 2020 and beyond.

Risk-Based Supervision Is Key to Financial Inclusion in 2020 & Beyond

In developing countries around the world, inadequate supervision risks neutralizing regulatory reforms designed to spark innovation and advance financial inclusion. Here’s what the global development community can do about it.

Hiding in Plain Site: Informal E-Commerce Among Women in Asia

Millions of women are buying and selling goods online across Asia — but, at least in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan, they’re not transacting on e-commerce platforms. They’re using social platforms instead, often without digital payments.

Digital Finance: Cybersecurity Requires Deeper Industry Collaboration

Cybercrime poses a significant threat to financial inclusion. Here are two things mobile financial services providers and industry associations must do to make financial services safer and more trustworthy for low-income customers.

Vulnerable Groups in Lebanon Cite Health as Top Financial Challenge

A study of refugees and host communities in Lebanon points to a pressing need for financial solutions to help households manage health-related shocks.

Financial Inclusion for What?

The global evidence on the impact of financial inclusion consistently shows that poor people use financial services to help them achieve two outcomes that improve their well-being: building resilience and capturing opportunities.