Searching: Research & Analysis

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.

TymeBank Case Study: The Customer Impact of Inclusive Digital Banking

As a fully digital retail bank in South Africa, TymeBank has created a suite of basic products that cater to the essential financial needs of low-income rural customers.

Getting Repaid in Asset Finance: A Guide to Managing Credit Risk

From Sub-Saharan Africa to the Indian Subcontinent, asset finance and leasing companies are doing invaluable, innovative work to finance critical assets for low-income and informal borrowers. But unlike banks and microfinance institutions, many of these companies do not have deep experience in organizing a credit operation, mitigating risk throughout a credit transaction or managing a portfolio of loans or leases.

Electric Bankers: Utility-Enabled Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Without appliances, people cannot make use of electricity. But how can low-income households afford costly electrical appliances? One answer is for utilities to offer consumer financing.

A Tale of Two Sisters: Microfinance Institutions and PAYGo Solar

Decisions on whether to compete or collaborate with new types of financial services providers and how to do so are some of the biggest challenges that MFIs face. Two global microfinance groups, Baobab and FINCA, have concluded that PAYGo financing can help them reach additional clients.

A Digital Credit Revolution: Insights from Borrowers in Kenya and Tanzania

To identify who is using digital credit, the purposes for which it is used, and the risks borrowers experience, CGAP, FSD Kenya, and FSD Tanzania undertook the first large-scale surveys dedicated to these topics.

Using Satellite Data to Scale Smallholder Agricultural Insurance

Smallholder families that use agricultural insurance can increase investments in more productive farming and nonfarming ventures as they feel more confident in managing related risks. However, significantly scaling the use of agricultural insurance among smallholders has been difficult in many parts of the world, especially in Africa.

Building Inclusive Payment Ecosystems in Tanzania and Ghana

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, new success stories are playing out, yet little is understood about the approaches many countries in the region have taken to develop inclusive payment ecosystems. CGAP set out to examine pathways to inclusive payment ecosystems in two Sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania and Ghana, to learn from their experiences.

Basic Regulatory Enablers for Digital Financial Services

CGAP shows how an enabling regulatory framework that is based on four enablers has contributed to advancing digital financial services in 10 countries.

Jordanians and Syrian Refugees: Remittances and Financial Services Use

How do you increase financial inclusion when the most vulnerable and financially excluded part of your population becomes host to a massive, even more vulnerable, and even less financially included group of refugees? Building on a quantitative survey, this research shows that for financial services to work for refugees, they also need to work at scale in-country.