Searching: Research & Analysis

Advancing Competition for Financial Inclusion: Six Policy Considerations for Financial Sector Authorities

This Focus Note provides practical policy considerations for financial sector authorities to act on competition concerns using their existing mandates and regulatory toolkit. By applying a competition lens, authorities can promote competition in ways that advance financial inclusion while safeguarding stability, integrity, and consumer protection.

Inclusive Pensions for an Aging World: Evidence and Strategies for Engaging Informal Workers

This Working Paper reviews how different countries have designed pension schemes for informal workers. It focuses on contributory schemes for the “missing middle”: informal workers with sufficiently stable incomes to save for old age but who lack access to suitable pension options.

Diverse Paths: Finance for Women’s Nano and Micro Enterprises

Women-led nano and micro enterprises (WNMEs) are vital for providing livelihoods, boosting communities, and driving local economies. However, they face barriers like insufficient start-up capital and limited networking. This publication delves into deeper the tailored solutions needed to support their growth based on in-depth research in India, Kenya and Uganda.

Gender-Smart Market Mapping for Nano and Micro Enterprises: A Practical Guide

Segmentation and market sizing helps in allocating development efforts, guide investments, and identify policy gaps for women-led nano and micro enterprises (WNME). This technical guide offers steps to understand the WNME landscape, design targeted products, and foster inclusivity for growth.

Inclusive Fintech: How Startups are Bridging the Finance Gap for Microenterprises

This focus note features a range of case studies based on CGAP's research and highlights the potential and actual impacts of microenterprise fintech models.

Open Finance Self-Assessment Tool and Development Roadmap

This technical guide introduces the open finance self-assessment tool and development roadmap. It provides practical tools for policymakers to use to decide whether to implement an open finance regime to advance financial inclusion and outline a development roadmap to guide the implementation process.

A Technical Guide to Unlock Agent Networks at the Last Mile

This guide outlines five key actions for DFS providers, regulators, and funders to expand rural CICO agent networks based on CGAP's global experience. These actions include building a vision for rural expansion, optimizing investment strategies for rural agents, and capturing the potential of women agents. 

The Setup: Partnerships and Conditions for Offering Financial Services to Gig Workers

Platforms can offer financial services to underserved gig workers through digital channels, but it's essential to have the right environment for payments, regulations, and analysis. In this brief, early lessons share how institutional partnerships can lead to successful market entry.

Financial Services for Gig Workers: Lessons on Getting Design and Delivery Right

This brief highlights four examples of successful design and delivery methods employed by industry leaders in providing financial services to gig workers.

Global Landscape: Data Trails of Digitally Included Poor (DIP) People

Many low-income people generate rich data trails that are not being fully leveraged in the design and delivery of financial services. CGAP's reading deck puts a spotlight on the specific data trails generated by digitally included yet poor people, the sources of these data trails, and variations of data trails across different segmentations.