Research & Analysis

Banking-as-a-Service: How it Can Catalyze Financial Inclusion

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is an entirely new business model that enables non-banks to offer banking services under their own brand and seamlessly embedded into their digital offering. By enabling the embedding of financial services into almost any digital context, BaaS may augur a profound evolution of the financial sector of which we are only seeing the early stages.

Banking in Layers: Five Cases to Illustrate How the Market Structure for Financial Services is Evolving

Exploring the market-level modularization of financial services through case studies featuring new models that are emerging, how they are coming about, and what they mean for the financial inclusion of low-income people in emerging markets and developing economies.

No Small Business: A Segmented Approach to Better Finance for Micro and Small Enterprises

This paper is based on primary research conducted with 383 micro and small enterrpises (MSEs) in India, Kenya, and Peru – three diverse emerging markets with a vibrant MSE finance ecosystem that includes strong incumbent providers like microfinance institutions, cooperatives, and banks, as well as innovative new providers like fintechs.

Customer Outcomes-Based Approach to Consumer Protection: A Guide to Measuring Outcomes

A customer outcomes-based approach to consumer protection focuses on the experiences and results of a customer’s access to and use of financial services, which are consequences of a financial service provider's (FSP) products, delivery, conduct, and practices.

How Can Financial Services Support Platform Work? Insights from Five Emerging Markets

Based on research with platforms and their workers across five countries, this report describes the platform ecosystem in emerging markets, the experiences of workers and sellers in key sectors, and how financial services can help these workers improve their livelihoods.

Women in the Platform Economy: Emerging Insights

Millions of women work in the platform economy but often face barriers that prevent them from capturing platform-based opportunities. Learn about female workers’ experiences and how financial services can help make platforms more inclusive.

Tool 1: Analysis of Regulatory Reports

Market monitoring can help supervisors identify, understand, and track consumer risks and monitor overall market developments. CGAP's new toolkit provides a range of tools as well as case studies.

The Evolution of the Nature and Scale of DFS Consumer Risks: A Review of Evidence

While digital financial services have delivered substantial financial inclusion benefits and unlocked life-changing opportunities for consumers, CGAP’s latest research finds that they have exacerbated existing consumer risks and continue to introduce new and ever-evolving risks—some outgrowing consumer adoption rates.

2020 Trends in International Funding for Financial Inclusion

International funders committed approximately US$58 billion to financial inclusion in 2020, a $6 billion increase from the prior year. Commitments from public funders continued to drive growth.

Funding Explorer: Interactive Data for 2020 CGAP Funder Survey

The Funding Explorer contains 5 interactive dashboards that reflect active international financial inclusion funding commitments as of December 31, 2020.