Photo by Ullas Kalappura, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest Photo by Ullas Kalappura, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest

Customers

The number of people with access to a financial account is steadily rising. Globally, 69 percent of adults in 2017 had accounts, up from 51 percent in 2011. But there are stark differences among countries—China and India are at 80 percent, while Pakistan and Sierra Leone have only 22 percent of adults banked. And the gender gap in account use is unchanged over the past decade at nine percentage points worldwide. Moreover, one in three people in developing countries had not used their accounts over the past year, according to the 2017 Global Findex.

CGAP's work on customers seeks to better understand the financial lives of poor people, particularly women, youth, and the forcibly displaced, among other vulnerable segments. What we learn will help financial services providers design products and services that better meet the needs of low-income people. We believe that creating value for customers increases account uptake and use, which in turn gives poor people more opportunities to improve their well-being. Providers also benefit because customers who see the value in services offered tend to be more loyal, use more financial products, and generate more revenue for providers.

Latest Research

Publication

Strengthening Rural Women’s Climate Resilience: Opportunities for Financial and Agricultural Service Providers

Rural women are critical to ensuring global food security but disproportionately vulnerable to climate change. In this working paper, CGAP and Mercy Corps AgriFin provide an overview of 10 opportunities for service providers, investors, and donors to improve rural women’s climate resilience and share examples of innovative business solutions.
Reading Deck

Resilient Rural Women: Applying Personas and Insights for Climate-Smart Innovation

This deck explores three personas of rural women and their distinct customer journeys through product and service engagement. It aims to provide a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities rural women face—including in the context of climate change. 
Reading Deck

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.

Latest Blogs

Blog

Doing Good by Doing Well: Women Banking Agents in India

In India's Bihar state, women Bank Sakhi agents help enable financial inclusion for rural, vulnerable, and hard-to-reach customers, more so than the traditional agents - but various gender norms constrain how they operate. We discuss solutions.
Blog

As More Low-Income People Generate Digital Trails, Women Lag Behind

Women are lagging behind men in digital access and the generation of digital footprints, which can lead to further disadvantages in financial access and usage. We discuss how financial service providers and authorities can address these gaps.
Blog

Women Are Being Digitally Excluded Globally – How Do We Fix That?

On this International Women's Day, we reflect on the state of women's digital and financial inclusion globally. At CGAP, we believe digital financial inclusion is a necessary condition for women to be digitally included and economically empowered.