Asset finance offers donors and investors a potentially scalable approach to advancing several SDGs. In this blog series, we explore innovations and challenges in asset finance across emerging markets.
The nature of work has changed greatly over the past few decades. So have financial services. To better understand how today’s financial services intersect with people’s changing livelihoods, CGAP is researching how the digital economy and digital…
Cyber-threats have become a growing concern in emerging financial markets and are weakening consumer trust and confidence in digital financial services. Industry players and governments in emerging markets are becoming aware of the need to develop…
Interoperability, the ability for systems to connect and work together, allows for e-mails that pass effortlessly around the world and trains that travel between cities no matter who laid the tracks. Yet interoperability remains largely absent from…
The global microfinance sector faced a crisis in 2020, as many borrowers were unable to repay their loans due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. CGAP’s Global Pulse Survey of Microfinance Institutions, conducted June to December 2020,…
Digital banks have created new possibilities for financial inclusion, but are digital banks actually reaching low-income customers? A new CGAP working paper, “Inclusive Digital Banking: Emerging Markets Case Studies,” presents emerging evidence…
CGAP's new "Guidelines for Funders: A Market Systems Approach" advocates that funders of financial inclusion shift their approach from institution building to building broader and sustainable markets. This blog series provides insight from a variety…
Digital gig platforms are on the rise globally, connecting millions of independent workers to expanded markets. But research indicates – and the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted – that such platforms have done little to alleviate risks fundamental to…
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is first and foremost a public health crisis, but it is also threatening many people’s financial security. This is especially true for low-income families in developing countries. As reports of distress pour in from…
This blog series explores the role that financial services can play for displaced people. Topics include the demand for financial services among FDPs, disaster insurance, and cash transfers. The millions of refugees and people forcibly displaced…
Whether and how financial services improve the lives of low-income people remains the subject of intense debate despite decades of evidence-gathering. The evidence to date appears mixed and often contradictory. As a result, different factions in the…
This blog series explores how digital payment providers can unlock innovation in the digital finance ecosystem by selling open APIs to third-parties, empowering these companies to create new products and services that benefit providers, third-…
There are about 1 billion people between 15 and 24 years of age in the world’s less developed regions. As they grow into adulthood, they will need support from many sources – including parents, trusted mentors, and social networks – and a variety of…
Turkey currently holds the G20 presidency and has declared financial inclusion to be one of its presidency’s priorities as a powerful driver of inclusive growth. In this series, Olga Tomilova and Stefan Staschen share some of their impressions on…
What areas of financial inclusion are funders focusing on? Which countries are receiving the most funding? Are funders’ interventions making a difference? In this blog series, we look at data on international funding for financial inclusion and…
This 2016 series shares early insights on digital credit, a fast-moving area in financial product innovation. In this series, we highlight the new Introduction to Digital Credit materials developed by CGAP, along with experiments and…
CGAP's report "China: A New Paradigm in Branchless Banking" highlights the opportunities for greater financial inclusion through technology, specifically the use of agents and branchless banking. Despite dramatic poverty reduction over the past…
The stakes in achieving universal access to high-quality education are high, yet many children remain out of school. The financial challenges associated with paying school fees and covering the other costs of education contribute to this problem. In…
Roughly 1.1 billion people worldwide lack electricity, and almost 85 percent of those without power live in rural areas. Distributed energy solutions that leverage digital payments open up opportunities to reach millions of people at low cost. In…
GSMA's 2017 State of the Industry reports a global total of 5.3 million agents, an impressive sixfold increase over the 886,000 agents in existence just five years ago. However, the bulk of digital financial services (DFS) agents are in urban or…
