CGAP
Annual Report 2024
Responsible and inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all.
Letter From the CEO
As we reflect on the past year, it's evident that the challenges facing our global community are as daunting as ever. The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report for 2024 paints a sobering picture: by the end of this year, nearly 25% of people in developing countries and 40% in low-income countries will still be poorer than they were before the pandemic in 2019. This stark reality underscores the importance of our mission and the urgency of our work.
Since the launch of the CGAP VII Strategy in July 2023, we have reaffirmed the significant hurdles that lie ahead. Climate change, poverty, food insecurity, inequality—especially gender inequality—threaten to erode the resilience of billions of people. Alongside the fragility brought on by conflict and violence, they have emerged as the defining issues of our time. While the economic hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic are slowly receding, these compounding threats are making it increasingly difficult for the most vulnerable to recover and thrive.
Yet, amidst these challenges, there are also opportunities. We have the chance to work together towards a greener, more inclusive, and resilient world. The current global outlook reinforces the critical role financial inclusion plays in achieving development outcomes. It continues to be a foundational element in improving livelihoods and building resilience in an increasingly volatile world. However, as I’ve said on several occasions this year, realizing the full potential of financial inclusion requires us to go beyond simply expanding access to and usage of financial services. We must focus on enhancing the practical benefits — or the utility — of financial inclusion. As the needs of those we serve have grown so dramatically, so too must our determination to maximize the positive impact of financial inclusion.
The success of the financial inclusion community over the past decade, highlighted by the increase in global account ownership from 51% in 2011 to 76% in 2021, has been significant. However, access and usage alone are not enough. The days of financial inclusion operating in its own distinct space are a thing of the past. Business as usual will not get us to the development outcomes we seek – we must be bold and ambitious in our approach, as outlined in the CGAP VII Strategy. This means demonstrating how financial inclusion contributes to the broader global development agenda and integrating it into new domains where our presence is not yet established.
Our work this year at the intersection of climate change and financial inclusion is a prime example of this new approach. While there is an urgent need for research and action in this area, many financial service providers do not yet prioritize climate adaptation, and the broader development community often overlooks critical linkages between the two. And yet, there are a lot of new solutions being developed by innovative FSPs that can help build the climate resilience of low-income households and enable them to access green technology. Bridging this knowledge gap, advocating for the importance of financial inclusion in addressing climate change, and helping to scale and expand new solutions is essential. I am confident that this work will have a lasting positive impact on the global climate response and, by extension, our world’s future.
To drive meaningful impact, we need robust evidence of financial inclusion’s role in achieving positive development outcomes. This is why we have launched the Financial Inclusion 2.0 initiative, a three-year sector-wide effort to improve our understanding and measurement of the impact of financial services. Through this initiative, and in collaboration with a powerful champions group, we aim to guide the inclusive finance sector in leveraging new data and innovative research methodologies to better understand and respond to the contextual factors that drive impact. This initiative will be complemented by exploratory work we started in FY24 to help impact investors working on inclusive finance to shift from outputs to outcomes in their impact measurement and management.
Our efforts to improve gender equality continue to make significant strides. Nearly 700 million women globally remain without access to financial services—a number equivalent to the population of Europe. Through the efforts of our dedicated gender team and the growing FinEquity community of practice, we have developed a comprehensive framework to address this gap, one country at a time. This work, informed by research on gender norms, policy biases, and the needs of the most excluded women, is paving the way for concrete progress in women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. We shared this conceptual framework at our annual Council of Governor’s meeting in June and look forward to publishing it during FY25. In collaboration with local partners, we will also begin the practical work of applying it in several countries.
Our progress in FY24 also extended to consumer protection. The Responsible Digital Finance Ecosystems (RDFE) framework is advancing global thinking on how to protect consumers in the increasingly complex financial landscape. Enriched by insights from our WAEMU Lab and the expert advisory board, this framework sets the stage for transformative changes in consumer protection worldwide.
Our work on the impact of financial inclusion and financial health is gaining traction among global leaders. With the support of Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) members, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), and other partners, we are helping to set new directions for the sector—directions that promise to influence the financial sector on a global scale.
Finally, our work on data also holds the potential to profoundly impact financial inclusion. For example, the ongoing Global Considerations for Open Finance initiative is poised to guide governments in implementing effective open finance frameworks. Combined with our work on alternative data-driven credit scoring, data use in insurance, and financial inclusion for gig workers, we are providing solutions that can bring millions of unbanked and underbanked individuals into the financial sector.
As we look ahead to the next fiscal year, CGAP is well-positioned to continue influencing global development outcomes. Whether through our work on impact monitoring, SME lending, food security, women’s financial inclusion, or climate resilience, we are committed to driving progress in financial inclusion and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. But this work only happens through partnerships. We are grateful for the ongoing collaboration with our members, strategic partners, and many other organizations committed to improving both financial inclusion and broader development outcomes. Thank you for your continued dedication and support.
Together, we will continue to push boundaries, challenge the status quo, and drive meaningful change. The work we do is critical—not just for those we serve today, but for the future we are all working to build.
Sophie Sirtaine, CGAP CEO
CGAP is currently in its 7th strategy cycle, which is known as “CGAP VII” and runs from July 2023 – June 2028. During CGAP VII, our work is designed to deliver 7 outcomes that are critical to achieving our vision of responsible and inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all.
During FY24, CGAP undertook the following work within those outcome areas:
Inclusive Finance for Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development
We cannot tackle poverty effectively without tackling climate change. As the climate crisis accelerates, the lives and livelihoods of billions of people are increasingly at risk. Some 3.3 billion people live in regions classified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as “highly vulnerable” to climate change. Inclusive financial services are a crucial tool for bridging this gap and putting tools, resources, and opportunities into the hands of those who are most affected by climate change and who need them the most. To this end, CGAP’s FY24 flagship work on climate, “8 Billion Reasons: Inclusive Finance as a Catalyst for Climate Action” provided a call to action for climate practitioners and financial services stakeholders from across public, private, and philanthropic sectors to work together to unlock the full potential of financial inclusion for scaling grassroots climate action. The paper outlined five priority areas for collaborative action between climate stakeholders and the financial services sector. It also included a foreword by World Bank President Ajay Banga and the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, demonstrating that this agenda resonates with a broad set of stakeholders.
Green investment is another key piece of this puzzle and FY24 saw the publication of CGAP’s “Investor Roadmap for Inclusive Green Growth”, which was a collaborative report by LeapFrog Investments, Temasek, and CGAP that shared new research highlighting the commercial opportunity to accelerate a wave of green investment into emerging markets. Already, there are ‘green’ technologies that are cheaper in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) than their carbon-intensive alternatives. The report outlines four key sectors (the built environment, energy, mobility, and agriculture) where private capital could therefore play a transformative role in the lives of emerging consumers and the global race to net zero.
CGAP’s FY24 work on climate outcomes also included key research on climate adaptation. Financial inclusion can play a critical role in enabling autonomous adaptation and building grassroots resilience to climate change since it is a unique enabler of grass-roots climate adaptation and a necessity for a just transition. The “Climate Adaptation, Resilience, and Financial Inclusion: A New Agenda” synthesis, published in FY24, drew on a year of CGAP research to combine fresh empirical evidence, rigorous analysis, and a deep understanding of financial services to present a compelling call to action and a new agenda for key stakeholders to consider.
CGAP places a priority on the economic empowerment of women through financial inclusion. Young women, aged 15-24, in low-income countries in particular face many barriers as they navigate major life transitions. Their access to financial services diverges markedly from young men around the age of majority, and this gender gap persists across ages. FY24 CGAP research found that financial inclusion initiatives can improve young women’s financial skills and savings levels. Combined with other types of interventions, financial inclusion may also improve psychosocial, health, and livelihood outcomes.
Rural women, too, face barriers to inclusive finance. Despite their central role in rural economies and global food systems, financial and agricultural service providers have largely overlooked and underserved the specific needs and ambitions of rural women, who face disproportionate threats from climate stresses and shocks compared to men. Gendered social norms also limit their access to resources and opportunities, which hinders their productivity and resilience.
As part of its deepening focus on the role of financial services in rural women’s climate resilience in FY24, CGAP along with IDH launched ABERA (Accelerating Business to Empower Rural women in Agriculture), an accelerator that aims to generate practical models and concrete guidance for stakeholders in the rural economy to better reach and serve women with business-driven solutions that improve their livelihoods and resilience to climate change. The first blog series from ABERA was published in FY24 and shares initial findings from the cohort of financial service providers, agribusinesses, and agtechs.
Women tend to be lower-risk borrowers than men, yet face higher loan approval thresholds, highlighting the need for adjusted lending models that more accurately assess risk and increase financing to women. CGAP’s FY24 work on gender-intentional credit scoring introduced a gender-lens framework, techniques to improve credit scoring accuracy, and implementation strategies, with examples from AB Bank Zambia and TymeBank, along with sample data for analysis.
Financial Supply-Side Gender Disaggregated Data (S-GDD) holds tremendous potential to support strategies to improve women’s financial inclusion and agency. Yet the collection and use of S-GDD remains underutilized in many jurisdictions. To unlock the full potential of S-GDD, a systematic and collaborative effort is needed to put S-GDD frameworks in place that effectively align the incentives of the different market actors. To lead this effort, authorities need clear guidance. In FY24, CGAP explored how S-GDD has been collected and used by financial sector authorities and providers, along with the challenges and opportunities associated with this work. The results highlight lessons to date, identify existing gaps, and propose next steps for future work to unlock S-GDD’s potential to support women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment.
Over the last few years, our world, economies, and markets have been enduring multiple crises with increased frequency and intensity—from climate disasters and health shocks to humanitarian crises. This year, CGAP deepened its focus on the role of inclusive finance in helping people living in poverty prepare for, cope with, and adapt to various shocks that vary in nature, intensity, frequency, and duration.
Expanding its work on fragile countries, CGAP published insights from crises in Gaza and Lebanon in FY24, offering critical insights into the strategies of financial institutions in navigating crises and considering how the development and humanitarian community can coordinate efforts in some of the world's most challenging environments to build foundations for a better future, including financial inclusion.
In fragile countries where instability and limited resources are jeopardizing the achievement of global development targets, inclusive finance can play a role in bolstering resilience and unlocking opportunities for low-income people. Yet, financial services are too often expensive and inaccessible for customers in these countries, while providers face high operating costs in an uncertain environment, and governments are typically overwhelmed by immediate crises and lack the bandwidth to develop or implement a long-term market strategy. CGAP’s working paper offers a framework for considering how funders may think about their interventions in fragile contexts – including the dimensions of security, social cohesion, government capacity, and institutional legitimacy – and introduces possible levers for change.
Closing Remaining Gaps
Despite an overall positive trend, the gender gap in financial inclusion remains stubbornly persistent in some parts of the world.
While the gender gap in account ownership in low and middle-income countries has decreased from nine percentage points to six percentage points, this signal of progress obscures a more nuanced reality. Significant gender gaps remain across the world, with 742 million women currently financially excluded (i.e., without an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider). Further, access to accounts does not always translate to access to diverse financial services that meet women’s needs. To address these challenges, a holistic approach that is tailored to specific women segments and tackles restrictive gender norms is imperative.
CGAP’s Country Approach to Closing the Gender Gap project – launched in FY24 – aims to support whole-of-market strategies in partnership with several countries. By convening a broad coalition of actors across the private sector, government, civil society, and development, this project seeks to introduce an integrated multisectoral approach to demonstrate visible improvements to women’s financial inclusion and to generate insights and lessons learned for other countries to apply a similar approach.
In FY24, CGAP developed a Conceptual Framework for addressing gaps in women's financial inclusion based on a deep global review and country-specific consultations to inform in-country strategies. It will be published in FY25. Additionally, a comprehensive methodology has been employed to identify countries with significant gender gaps and potential for impact, considering factors such as digital infrastructure, social norms, and political will. In partnership with a range of actors (governments, development agencies, and donors), CGAP anticipates starting pilots in several countries in FY25 to apply the conceptual framework.
Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) remain a core segment for improving livelihoods and in FY24, CGAP’s work focused on the enabling role of digital finance in mobilizing financial services for MSEs.
CGAP published research on leveraging transactional data for micro and small enterprise lending, which showed that the use of transactional data for credit underwriting can play a part in closing the estimated US$4.9 trillion global financing gap for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). It can help expand access to MSEs without formal lending history and can improve product fit by more accurately estimating repayment capacity. CGAP’s work in FY24 contributed to building the evidence base for this by measuring the predictive power of transactional data in credit scoring models.
During FY24, CGAP also explored opportunities for micro-retailers from the digitization of the last mile of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chains. This digitization by newly established B2B e-commerce companies can make financial inclusion more possible for many excluded and underserved micro-retailers but success will depend on their ability to scale while addressing challenges such as digital literacy, infrastructure, and gender biases.
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) continued to be part of CGAP’s MSE work in FY24. MFIs play a vital role in delivering credit and other financial services to low-income customers, including closing the financing gap for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). When it comes to the digitization of MFIs, funders play a particularly crucial supporting role. CGAP found that funders can support an incremental approach to microfinance digitization and increase the number of MFI digitization success stories by focusing on business intelligence and credit renewal automation.
In rural areas, where the largest share of poor and financially underserved people currently live, Cash-in and Cash-out (CICO) agent networks are critical in ensuring the uptake and use of digital financial services (DFS) ecosystems. CGAP’s "Agent at the Last Mile” Initiative recognized CICO agents' importance in extending digital financial inclusion in rural areas, where agent networks tend to show a large gap in coverage. The initiative culminated in FY24, concluding five years of analysis, including a look at how regulators can enable last-mile networks; how DFS providers, policymakers, regulators, and funders can influence agent networks to be more inclusive of women and other vulnerable customer segments; key country-level actions for DFS providers, policymakers, regulators, and funders to unlock the expansion of rural CICO agent networks; and the impact the increasing digitization of financial services could have on last-mile communities that still largely rely on cash. In collaboration with the office of the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands; the World Bank Group; the Better Than Cash Alliance; and other stakeholders, CGAP also led work for the G20 Global Partnership on Financial Inclusion to outline the building blocks for achieving financial inclusion at the last mile, which will be published in FY25.
The ongoing development of open finance ecosystems has the potential to be a truly transformational enabler that could unleash the power of data to increase financial inclusion. In FY24, CGAP published a working paper on the building blocks that enable successful open finance implementation and a self-assessment tool that provides policymakers with practical tools to use when considering whether an open finance regime could advance financial inclusion. It also includes a development roadmap to guide the implementation process.
Among the growing number of countries considering or implementing open finance worldwide, India and Brazil have been pioneering open finance in developing economies, witnessing significant impact in just over two years. In FY24, CGAP published results from research on the uptake of open finance in both of these countries, finding that the success of each initiative has, so far, hinged on customer trust.
CGAP also collaborated with the Bank of International Settlements, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development’s office, The World BanK, and the International Monetary Fund in FY24 to develop Global Considerations for Open Finance, which will be published in FY25 and provide guidance to countries looking to develop open finance systems.
Inclusive Finance Foundations, Enabling Environment, and Investment
As digital finance tools and services continue to grow in scale and sophistication, it's crucial to ensure such services are responsible. The burden cannot fall on regulators alone, but instead requires an ecosystem-wide approach. In FY24, CGAP developed a conceptual framework for such a responsible digital financial ecosystem that can improve safety for consumers by putting them at the center, but which also requires improving various actors’ capability and commitment to address risks, along with constructive collaboration between financial sector authorities, financial services providers, market facilitators, and consumer representatives.
While not published until FY25, the framework included lessons learned from CGAP’s WAEMU DFS Consumer Protection Lab, which served as a prototype for the RDFE approach and focused efforts in three countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal. In June 2024, CGAP published a synthesis of the Lab’s three national surveys, which shed light on the urgency of fostering responsible digital financial ecosystems to ensure that DFS leads to better experiences and outcomes for consumers in the region. In Burkina Faso, the WAEMU Lab also piloted a stakeholder landscape tool to identify key actors in the DFS ecosystem and will now use this tool in RDFE pilots in Peru and Rwanda.
As a result of the Lab’s work in FY24, actors across the entire digital financial ecosystem in Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Burkina Faso have taken steps to develop action plans and implement steps to make DFS more responsible. In Burkina Faso, this process took place as part of a joint presentation of the national survey results by CGAP and the local authorities. Actions include the development of price comparators and information campaigns on fraud for consumers, both by authorities and DFS providers. The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) has been involved with the WAEMU Lab throughout and has decided to review its regulatory setup for consumer protection with World Bank support. In addition, the World Bank’s Niger Country Program is about to launch a national DFS consumer risks survey similar to the Lab surveys in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal.
In FY24 CGAP also published results of its research on using AI to analyze social media to understand digital credit risks, based on a pilot in India with the RBI Innovation Hub (RBIH). The findings from this research and the work on the nexus between data and consumer protection provided important learnings for the RDFE pilots and the RBIH has continued to use the AI tool.
Innovations in digital financial services (DFS) have driven strong advances in financial inclusion in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Past growth in DFS has been fostered by a set of basic regulatory enablers, but now increasingly novel and complex innovations are bringing new risks and challenges for regulators and supervisors. In FY24, CGAP explored the latest wave of disruptive innovations in financial services to better understand the regulatory changes that would allow EMDEs to harness their financial inclusion potential while containing consumer and financial sector risk. The initial research found three priority sets of actions for regulators: defining the financial sector regulatory perimeter, managing relationships between different types of authorities, and balancing different policy objectives.
Another priority in FY24 was improving our understanding of what has made some regulators better equipped to deal with innovation than others. CGAP's team of former regulators and regulatory experts reviewed thousands of pages of regulations, policy notes, and research reports, and interviewed over 200 policymakers, start-up founders, and financial industry professionals to find answers. Observations from that research prove that innovation is changing regulators and regulatory architecture forever – often in ways that are profound, but less visible and understood. CGAP will continue to shed light on these changes in FY25 in an effort to better equip regulators to harness innovation for financial inclusion.
In FY24, CGAP launched its Financial Inclusion 2.0 initiative. The underlying premise is that for financial inclusion to deliver on its promise and generate a more inclusive, resilient, and green future, it must be fundamentally redefined and reimagined. Financial inclusion 2.0 cannot be focused just on the mechanics that create access to financial accounts, or even those that increase account usage. It must be about maximizing the impact of inclusive finance for low-income and vulnerable individuals, households, and MSEs by developing financial solutions that will effectively build a more inclusive, resilient, and green future for them. In other words, the financial inclusion sector needs to embrace a focus on outcomes.
CGAP anticipates that the research and tools developed through the Financial Inclusion 2.0 project will help close key knowledge gaps about the impact of financial services, as well as inspire and enable the financial inclusion community to continue research that sheds light on what works, when, and for whom. Being able to more accurately answer these questions will pave the way for investors, regulators, funders, and other development actors to make more effective contributions that lead to greater and more inclusive development outcomes. The effort to build this new foundation and push the financial inclusion sector into this new frontier is being championed by high-level leaders from across different sectors and regions.
Future Work
With a rich pipeline of work in progress and strong ongoing partnerships, CGAP is well-placed to influence global development agendas and to continue to support a wide range of development actors with the knowledge they need to deliver development outcomes in FY25 and beyond. However, we have also been doing preparatory work on a number of issues to investigate their suitability for the next wave of CGAP projects. This has included initial exploratory efforts to investigate:
- Agtech innovations, which are expected to play a vital role in addressing the root causes of food insecurity in the long term. However, the most effective Agtech innovations will vary in each country context. CGAP’s work will seek to distinguish which financial inclusion interventions best promote the uptake of Agtech innovations that reduce food insecurity in low and middle-income countries.
- Inclusive carbon markets, which have the potential to help finance a just green transition and contribute to global climate action. CGAP’s work will seek to increase the number and scale of inclusive carbon market projects that benefit low-income households and MSEs.
- Inclusive insurance, which will be vital for building resilience. In FY24, CGAP started exploring the importance of insurance for risk management, especially for low-income and financially excluded populations. Future work will be based on the premise that unless those populations have access to insurance to help them build resilience directly at the micro-level, other development efforts may be undermined.
- Measuring outcomes from impact investing in inclusive finance. In FY24, CGAP explored current practices, barriers, opportunities, and lessons learned from impact investors related to measuring and managing outcomes in inclusive finance. In FY25, this project will seek to increase the value and alignment of impact measurement and management (IMM) in the capital value chain by making it more outcomes focused.
CGAP’s FY24 Global Footprint
During FY24, CGAP conducted 14 pilots in 15 countries.
Overall, our in-country work covered 42 countries, demonstrating the reach of CGAP’s work during the first year of implementing the CGAP VII Strategy. This in-country work spanned field research, pilots, training, and sharing in-country lessons through focus notes and other knowledge products. As we progress in this strategic cycle, we intend to expand our global presence even further.
Convening for Impact
CGAP’s role as a thought leader and convener is central to its mission and in FY24 CGAP continued to bring stakeholders together to advance financial inclusion.
At its annual Council of Governors meeting in London, CGAP welcomed 133 individuals representing 62 different organizations to explore the pivotal role of inclusive finance in combating climate change, enhancing grassroots resilience, and promoting a just and green transition for people living in poverty.
CGAP continues to convene FinEquity, a community of practice for women’s financial inclusion that reached over 10,000 individuals from more than 163 countries. FinEquity Africa, launched in FY23, reached 2,526 practitioners focused on women’s financial inclusion in 49 countries. FinEquity ALC, FinEquity’s regional chapter in Latin America and the Caribbean, reached 3,000 individuals across the region. FinEquity’s annual convening in February 2024 brought together over 450 individuals to explore how financial services can help women build resilience in the face of climate shocks and global volatility. FinEquity Africa’s first annual convening brought together over 200 individuals with an in-person event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
CGAP’s West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Digital Finance Consumer Protection Lab entered its third year of operation and continued to work with financial sector authorities in the region to drive research and capacity-building activities to address growing digital finance consumer risks.
New in FY24, CGAP and IDH launched ABERA, an accelerator on a mission to elevate gender-inclusive and climate-smart approaches in agriculture and rural contexts and measure their impact on business performance. ABERA brings together a range of financial and agriculture service providers to bolster business performance while also meeting their gender and climate goals.
FinDev Gateway continues to provide an essential space for sharing the latest knowledge in the sector and for discussing and debating critical issues. It consists of 4 platforms in different languages: English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. This enables the global financial inclusion community – and those in specific regions – to learn from one another and build its collective knowledge. In FY24, 337 authors, speakers, and other financial inclusion professionals contributed to FinDev Gateway platforms through blog posts, webinars, and other content. In addition, FinDev Gateway published over 2,400 publications, news updates, events, and jobs – a 32% increase from FY23. These resources help community members stay informed about the latest news and publications, discover events, and find talent.
Global Reach and Influence
In Their Words
Documentation and Charts
CGAP is a trust-funded consortium of more than 30 members with a mandate of advancing access to financial services for the world’s poor. It is housed in the World Bank’s Prosperity Global Practice. The Prosperity Global Practice, on behalf of other member donors, has legal, financial, and administrative oversight of CGAP. CGAP follows the World Bank’s fiscal year, which ends on June 30.
These financial statements include a FY24 Financial Update, FY24 Member Contribution Update, and accompanying notes. They are unaudited. Internal audits are performed by the World Bank Group Quality Assurance. CGAP also participates in the World Bank Group’s single audit exercise annually.
Key Highlights for Fiscal Year 2024
Member Contributions. Total member contributions in FY24 were $17.9 million, or 51% less than $36.4 million received for FY23. It is important to note that a significant portion of cash contributions received in FY23 were intended for FY24 and the remaining fiscal years of the CGAP VII cycle. This included direct member contributions to CGAP’s trust funds, World Bank’s contribution via budget transfers, and earned investment income on CGAP’s trust funds. Foundations provided 62% of funding, bilateral members 34%, multilateral members 1%, and the World Bank 3%.
Operating Expenses. CGAP FY24 operating expenses were $27.5 million, up from $26.7 million in FY23.
Cash Position. CGAP’s financial position remained solid by the end of FY24, with a significant improvement in our funding outlook for FY25. Cash Balance decreased by 45% compared to June 2023, and Funding pipeline volume increased by 56% due to additional member contributions pledged in FY24. CGAP starts next year with $87.5 million in the form of cash, receivables, and high/medium pipeline already in place. This still leaves approximately $35.0 million yet to be identified and fundraised in the coming years.
1. Basis of Accounting
CGAP financial reports are prepared on a cash accounting basis.
Revenue from donor pledges is recognized when written notification of a donor’s intent to process the grant is received. In most cases, pledges are fulfilled during the fiscal year in which they were made. Sometimes they are received in the following year(s).
These (unaudited) financial statements are prepared on a historical cost convention and are denominated in United States dollars.
2. Contributions from Donors – Core and Preferenced
CGAP’s revenues consist of donor contributions (including pledges that have not yet been received but are being processed by the donor), interest income, and foreign exchange gains. Per CGAP’s charter, all members are expected to contribute core funding to carry out CGAP’s operations. Once donors have made core (unrestricted) contributions, they can also make in exceptional cases a contribution limited to a specific purpose (preferenced). The amounts of donor contributions to CGAP’s core funds can be found in the table on CGAP Member Donor Contributions.
3. Interest Income
Interest Income is the interest received during the fiscal year on cash balances held.
4. Operating Expenses: CGAP’s operating expenses are comprised of the following:
- Staff Salaries and Benefits of direct-hire CGAP staff.
- Consultant fees are costs related to the hiring of individual CGAP consultants.
- Travel are expenses related to delivery of corporate activities including inter alia participation in external events, CGAP-hosted meetings, etc.
- Contractual/Firm services are related to the hiring of external companies.
- Other Operating Expenses include all other expenses related to delivery of CGAP’s program, including those related to the organization of CG and ExCom meetings, office and building expenses, telecommunications, office supplies, etc.
5. Operating Reserve
Operating Reserves are funds available for ongoing operations and future commitments. Since CGAP does not generate revenue, an operating reserve is maintained to cushion the potential effects of delays in member contributions and to allow an orderly wind-down of CGAP activities should members decide to discontinue CGAP's operations in its present form. Our practice is to target operating reserves at a level that would sustain at least 6 months of operating costs and contractual obligations, which is estimated at $20 million. It is particularly important to have this reserve in place as we move from one strategy cycle to the next, as members generally secure their contributions over the course of the first two years of a new strategy.
Members & Strategic Partners
Collaboration across the full inclusive finance ecosystem remains a central focus for CGAP. In an innovative effort to further integrate private sector perspectives into its Council of Governors (CG) discussions, CGAP welcomed four strategic partners in FY24: AXA EssentiALL, Baillie Gifford – Positive Change, Citi Social Finance, and Fundación Microfinanzas BBVA. While strategic partners are not CG members and therefore do not participate in CGAP’s governance, they actively contribute to CGAP’s convenings, knowledge sharing efforts, and strategic discussions. This inaugural group of strategic partners spans various sectors vital to CGAP’s mission, including insurance, microfinance, banking, and investments. In FY24, CGAP also welcomed the following new members: International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), which joined the Multilaterals Constituency.
CGAP's FY24 engagement with members was also strong. Furthering CGAP's work on climate adaptation and resilience, significant learning partnerships were forged with the Global Shield and the World Bank Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program, advancing adaptive strategies and resilience-building efforts. On the gender front, a methodology was piloted with GIZ in Mozambique to evaluate how gender norms influence the behavior of market actors such as financial service providers and policymakers. This approach was later replicated in Uganda and Tanzania. Additionally, partnerships with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs led to a Knowledge and Learning Session on Gender Equality in the Financial Sector, while collaboration with the Gates Foundation resulted in a co-authored blog series on young women’s financial inclusion.
Efforts to foster a Responsible Digital Financial Ecosystem and Responsible Digital Credit included initiatives like CGAP’s WAEMU DFS Consumer Protection Lab, which inspired a similar national consumer risk survey by the World Bank in Niger. Regional technical webinars to inform the development of strategies and programming engaged members such as UNCDF, AFD, and the Mastercard Foundation. Collaborations with UNCDF and the World Bank Thailand office delivered training on customer-centric supervision and responsible digital credit, while the SDC’s Savings and Credit Forum 2023 hosted a session on responsible digital finance ecosystems with over 90 local participants. Contributing to CGAP's work on distribution, a learning session with JOA on cash-in cash-out (CICO) networks attracted more than 50 participants from its extended network, fostering knowledge exchange and innovation. These are just a few illustrative examples of how CGAP engages with members and strategic partners to deliver impact at scale. Members and Strategic Partners have also offered their own insights from innovations, programming and funding allocations to inform the scope of CGAP's work and ensure that our outputs address frontier barriers and support members and partners in advancing the reach and impact of their corresponding agendas.
Executive Commitee
(As of June 30, 2024)
Chair: Henri Dommel, UNCDF
Ola Sahlén, Sida
Anouk Aarts, Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Christine Poursat, Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
Daniel Hailu, Mastercard Foundation
Jean Pesme, World Bank
Buhle Goslar, Aceli Africa, at-large
Paula Arregui, Mercado Pago, at-large
Shinjini Kumar, SALT, at-large
Sophie Sirtaine, CGAP
CGAP Council of Governors & Representatives
The Council of Governors (CG) is the membership and governance body of CGAP, chaired by the Vice President of the Global Practice where CGAP is housed. Each member appoints a focal point as its CG representative and has one vote on the council. At the annual CG meeting in May, members discuss CGAP’s strategic direction, review and approve work plans and budgets, and share knowledge about new innovations and trends.
Bilaterals I
Denmark: Morten Elkjær and Barbara Marcussen
Germany: Tim Posert, Florian Henrich, Klaus Prochaska and Hayder Al-Bagdadi
Italy: Filippo Lonardo
Norway: Paul Wade and Tullik Helene Ystanes Føyn
Sweden: Ola Sahlén
Switzerland: Philippe Sas
Bilaterals II
Canada: Philip Halliday and Renata Lambreva
Japan: Takumi Kunitake, Yuzu Shinzato, Koyu Torizawa, Keiko Mizoe and Rina Takahashi
Jersey: Simon Boas, Edward Lewis and Gillian Challinor
Luxembourg: Christina Pinto, Louis de Muyser and Paul Weber
The Netherlands: Anouk Aarts
Republic of Korea: Jin-kyung Kim
United Kingdom: Keith Barnes, Paul Simister, Rebecca Waghorn and Zara Mahmood
United States: Ruta Aidis, Sabeen Dhanani, Rebecca Rouse and Jack Hawley
Foundations
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Michael Wiegand, Ariadne Plaitakis, Daniel Radcliffe and Deon Woods Bell
Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth: Ali Schmidt-Fellner and Carolina Zuluaga
Mastercard Foundation: Daniel Hailu, Aissata Sow and Mercy Mutua
MetLife Foundation: Tia Hodges
Development Finance Institutions
AFD Group: Christine Poursat, Marion Calloch, Sophia Hanaizi and Jérémy Brault
British International Investment: Joe Huxley
CDC Group: Machal Karim
European Investment Bank: Denitsa Berkhoff, Isabelle Van Grunderbeeck and Emma Paul
FMO - Netherlands Development Finance Company: Rein Jansons
IDB Invest: Terence Gallagher
International Finance Corporation: Adel Meer
Investment Fund for Developing Countries: Morten Elkjær and Barbara Vieyra Marcussen
KfW Bankengruppe: Matthias Adler, Karl von Klitzing and Anne Horler
Multilateral Members
African Development Bank: David Ashiagbor, Sheila Okiro, Karine Gondjout, Malado Kaba and Robert Zegers
European Commission: Paz Velasco-Velazquez
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): Marc de Sousa-Shields
United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) / UNDP: Henri Dommel
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Irene Arias Hofman and Sergio Navajas
World Food Program (WFP): Astrid de Valon and Suzanne Van Ballekom
World Bank: Jean Pesme
Strategic Partners
AXA EssentiALL: Garance Wattez-Richard, Wendy Smith and Quentin Gisserot
Baillie Gifford - Positive Change: Edward Whitten and Apricot Wilson
Citi Social Finance: Jorge Rubio Nava and Eugene Amusin
BBVA Foundation: Elizabeth Prado Núñez
About CGAP
CGAP is a global partnership of more than 35 leading development organizations that works to advance the lives of people living in poverty, especially women, through financial inclusion.
We work at the frontier of inclusive finance to test solutions, spark innovation, generate evidence, and share insights. Our knowledge enables public and private stakeholders to scale solutions that make financial ecosystems meet the needs of poor, vulnerable, and underserved people and of micro and small enterprises (MSEs), including through advancing women’s economic empowerment.
As a global public good, our independent research and analysis is available to all.
Credits for Cover Photo: Mohd Nazri Sulaiman
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