Searching: Research & Analysis

Climate Risk and Financial Inclusion: A Regulatory Perspective

Climate change risks may drive the financial sector away from serving the least profitable and most climate-exposed clients, namely low-income, rural households, and micro, small, and medium enterprises. This new working paper outlines how inclusive green finance policies can help reduce these risks, creating a more stable and resilient real economy.

Social Media Monitoring to Assess Consumer Risks in Digital Credit Apps: Guidance for Supervisors from an India Pilot

To better understand the digital consumer credit and the risks they pose for customers, this reading deck contains supervisory guidance on the use of a branch of AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), for social media monitoring. It is based on insights and lessons from an India pilot and provides examples of social media analyses carried out as part of that pilot.

Digital Banks: How Can They be Regulated to Deepen Financial Inclusion?

This reading deck describes three regulatory approaches used by policy-makers to regulate digital banks. It has a focus on harnessing the potential of digital banks to bring welcome competition and innovation to the banking sector and advance financial inclusion.

Regulatory Approaches to the Interest Earned on E-Money Float Accounts

What happens to interest earned on float accounts? CGAP believe that electronic money issuers should be allowed – but not required – to distribute some or all of the float interest to their e-money customers.

Open Banking: How to Design for Financial Inclusion

While many regulators in emerging and developing markets understand the potential benefits of open banking regimes, they are uncertain how to design them in ways that support financial inclusion. CGAP has identified 12 critical design components.

Microfinance and COVID-19: Principles for Regulatory Response

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, further policy steps have proven necessary, both within and beyond the financial sector, to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on businesses and ordinary people. This Briefing applies five guiding principle to country contexts, and specifically addresses what each principle means for regulatory responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Microfinance & COVID-19: Examples of Regulatory Responses Affecting Microfinance Providers

This table provides country examples for regulatory responses identified in the Briefing Microfinance and COVID-19: Principles for Regulatory Response.

How to Build a Regulatory Sandbox: A Practical Guide for Policy Makers

When is a regulatory sandbox the best method for financial regulators to test innovative products and services? And how can they use a sandbox for advancing financial inclusion? CGAP’s new guide leads regulators step by step through the decision-making process.

Microfinance and COVID-19: A Framework for Regulatory Response

A framework for identifying and assessing crisis responses must take account of the special characteristics of microfinance which leads to the question of how regulators should respond. A review of current practice in a range of countries suggests there are six key steps to be taken at the level of regulation and policy.

Platform Business Models

Most “unicorn” companies are platforms. But what exactly are platforms? What are the main business models? Are to what extent are they relevant to financial inclusion for low-income customers? Explore the answers in this slide deck.