Displaying 61 - 80 of 4098 results
Jipange Kusave: A Mobile-only Attack on the Kenyan Mattress
When we launched Jipange KuSave – a mobile-only savings product – in Kenya in early 2010, our goal was to out-compete the mattress. Back then, Safaricom’s M-PESA service was in hyper-growth phase and ramping up to become the de facto national retail payment system. But even more exciting was M-PESA’s potential as a pervasive and low-cost delivery channel for a wider set of financial services.Can Third-Party Providers Lead to New Business Models?
Until recently, Zoona, formerly known as Mobile Transactions could have been considered the best kept secret in Africa. Operating in Zambia on a shoe-string budget, they have been developing their own unique business model for electronic financial services slowly and with little media attention. Now, as of February 2012, this small company has secured investments from three big investors, Omidyar Network, ACCION Frontier Investments, and Sarona Asset Management. All three are banking on the fact that Zoona’s experience and innovative approach to serving a range of consumers situates them to fill crucial gaps in the mobile money transactions and payments market in Africa.Powering Remittances Flows between Russia and Tajikistan
It can be concluded the Russia-Tajikistan corridor offers some interesting insights on how one might link financial products to remittance flows, but it also provides insights on the basic challenges accounting for why no significant scale has yet been reached.Remittances in Russia and Tajikistan
The potential seems huge to make use of a promising mix of (i) people on both ends of the remittance corridor being in regular contact with banks; (ii) most of the senders and receivers still being unbanked; (iii) the banks having detailed records of remittance clients’ financial flows; and (iv) intense and growing competition among banks, which has led to declining fees for customers to remit money.Branchless Banking in India: More Reasons for Optimism
In keeping with this optimistic view of a still uncertain India venture, we conclude with three more positive items to highlight. Two reflect new changes by the government and one goes back to the fundamentals.Mobile International Remittances in the Philippines
Last week, we began a blog series and released a CGAP report on international remittances through mobile banking channels. The series continues this week with guest blogger Paolo Baltao, President of G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom in the Philippines. G-Xchange’s GCASH is one of the first mobile wallet services in the world and has been offering international remittances since 2004. In this post, Paolo shares some of the lessons GXI has learned in the past eight years.Join CGAP’s Event and Webcast Today on New G2P Focus Note
Join us to discuss the findings from the recent CGAP Focus Note, Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Four Countries.What Do International Remittances Mean for Mobile Money?
Since remittances to developing countries were estimated at about $351 billion for 2011, capturing even a small share of this market could be a transformational opportunity for mobile money providers – right?Turning Insights into Products: Applab Money
CGAP, Grameen Foundation and MTN Uganda are introducing Grameen Foundation’s AppLab Money Incubator, a new initiative that develops mobile financial products for the poor.Is There a Business Case for Offering Services to G2P Recipients?
The biggest challenge when it comes to the business case for banks is that the amount per grant payment is small, and as client research has shown, very little of each payment is left behind in the form of savings.Eko’s Mobile Banking: A Basic Payments Product
Eko was the first company dedicated to a mobile phone-based basic savings account and payment service for the unbanked in India. Launched in 2007, Eko has carefully developed a mobile-based service usable on the most basic of handsets and continually revised and re-fashioned its approach.Segmentation: A Tool to Enhance Activity Levels
Customer segmentation is a powerful marketing tool which can be used to understand customers, design products and tailor advertising messages. It’s based on the premise that some customers will find a service extremely valuable while others couldn’t care less about it.Will G2P Recipients Use Financial Services if Offered to Them?
Our recently released Focus Note on Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion looks at the evidence from four large and well established programs in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and South Africa to attempt to answer three broad questions that are relevant to different stakeholder groups.Strong Customer Activity Should Begin on Day One
One of the keys to high levels of customer activity is getting it right from the very beginning – ensuring that the registration agent and first customer transactions are both focused on long-term customer activity.CGAP Releases Paper on G2P Payments and Financial Inclusion
Branchless banking is, fundamentally, a business built on high-volume, low-value transactions.Using Data to Understand Customer Activity
For the last year CGAP has conducted quantitative research on the challenge of inactive customers. In culmination of this research, we are releasing a deck that helps providers understand and develop strategies to address low customer activity in their services.Beam in India Demonstrates the Power of Convenience
Beam is one example of a mobile phone based service that offers something much simpler and lies at the far end of the spectrum of financial services.Head of Brazil’s Central Bank Financial Inclusion Team Speaks to CGAP
We recently spoke with Elvira Cruvinel, head of a new Brazilian Central Bank team coordinating financial inclusion efforts. Only a handful of countries globally have created such financial inclusion teams at central banks. Elvira is part of this small pioneering group of leaders looking to effect major changes to the financial access landscape.
1. What is the Brazilian Central Bank’s vision of financial inclusion?