Recent Blogs
Financial Health: Driving Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean
Account ownership in LAC has surged, but true progress means translating access into financial health. Banks can lead by using technology to build trust, design customer-first solutions, and expand inclusive digital ecosystems.
How Digital Innovation is Powering Latin America’s Financial Inclusion
Digital innovation, inclusive fintechs, and progressive policies are transforming financial inclusion in the LAC region. With systems like PIX and open finance, millions now access, save, invest, and transact digitally, driving growth and reducing inequality.
Embedding Gender Equality in Ecuador's Financial Inclusion Regulations
Ecuador’s approach to embedding gender equality in financial regulations offers a model for how regulators can drive inclusive financial systems and close gender gaps.
How Fostering Competition in LAC Can Revolutionize Financial Inclusion
Governments in LAC recognize the importance of advancing digital financial inclusion and fostering competition among financial service providers to improve choices and quality and lower costs for all consumers - including those living in poverty.
Success in Open Finance Requires Trust – Lessons from Brazil
Brazil's rapid expansion of open finance shows its potential to transform financial services, and recent CGAP research offers valuable insights into Brazil, as well as other markets interested in implementing open finance.
Why Don’t Fintechs Have a Larger Share of Peru’s MSE Credit Market?
CGAP market sizing research in Peru found that fintechs are only responsible for 0.3% of the MSE credit market. Here, we ask why fintechs have such a small segment of the MSE credit market and posit how that share can be increased.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).