Research & Analysis

Embedding Social Performance Management in Financial Service Delivery

This Brief highlights the case for social performance management and illustrates how financial services providers can embed responsible finance practices into service delivery and contribute to healthy market development.

Mobile Payments Infrastructure Access and Its Regulation

This research shows USSD access is an important competition issue in many countries since there are no effective substitutes that have been proven at scale.

Electronic G2P Payments: Evidence from Four Lower-Income Countries

This Focus Note presents the evidence gained from a comprehensive study of the experiences in developing and implementing e-payment schemes linked to financial inclusion in Haiti, Kenya, the Philippines, and Uganda.

Financial Inclusion and Development: Recent Impact Evidence

This paper proposes that the accumulating body of evidence supports policy makers’ assessments that developing inclusive financial systems is an important component for economic and social progress on the development agenda.

The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales

This paper seeks to explore the concept of a responsible exit along four strategic decisions: the timing of the equity sale, buyer selection, the governance and use of shareholder agreements to achieve social objectives, and how social and financial returns are balanced when selecting among bids.

Designing Products for G2P recipients through Financial Diaries and Ethnographic Research in Brazil

China: A New Paradigm in Branchless Banking

While many banked people already use mobile banking in China, the country also has the potential to emerge as an important success story for branchless banking and financial inclusion and potentially a new paradigm.

Financial Inclusion Snapshot: Mastercard Foundation

In recent years, the development community has sustained support for microfinance but broadened funding to encompass the wider goal of financial inclusion. International funders have been adapting their priorities to meet this broader vision, and in 2012, funders committed at least $29 billion to support financial inclusion.

The Journey to Customer-Centricity

To develop a deeper and organizational level of understanding customers, a cross-functional team at Janalakshmi, a microfinance institution in India serving over a million customers in urban areas, applied a design thinking process facilitated by innovation consultants.This brochure describes the process and the tool used to create customer profiles.

Case Study: E-Payments in Uganda with Limited Infrastructure

This case study tracks the design and implementation of the SAGE social transfer program in Uganda, highlights the experiences of various stakeholders and explains lessons learned.