Blog

Mapping Credit Gender Gaps With Regulatory Data in Rwanda

Using disaggregated data—by gender, age, and location—can improve financial inclusion. Using CGAP's pilot with NBR in Rwanda as an example, we show how segmented insights help regulators and providers identify gaps, reduce bias, and better serve vulnerable groups.

Why DFIs Could Be the Secret Weapon in Scaling Adaptation Finance

Despite a surge in climate finance, adaptation and resilience (CAR) finance remains neglected. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap by leveraging their influence and expertise to strengthen financial systems.

Liability in Open Finance: How Do We Make It Work for Consumers?

As open finance grows, clear liability frameworks are essential to protect consumers from fraud and data leaks. This blog explores how global regulators can build trust through better accountability, stronger consent, and collaborative oversight.

How Providers Can Serve Micro-Merchants Sustainably

This blog discusses why digital merchant payments for micro- and rural merchants in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to be financially sustainable—and what providers, regulators, and development partners can do to fix that.

Banking on Carbon: Inclusive Finance in Colombia

In Colombia, CGAP, Karbon-X, and Bancamía are exploring how inclusive financial services can support forest conservation and community impact. Learn how savings, loans, and digital payments can help households to build resilience without relying on deforestation.

Financial Health Matters: It’s A Bridge to Resilience and Prosperity

In an era of economic volatility and rapid financial innovation, the concept of financial health has emerged as a critical bridge between financial inclusion and positive outcomes for people and economies.

Simplicity and Human Touch Ensure Better Customer Outcomes in Microfinance

Do financial institutions’ consumer protection policies actually deliver good outcomes for customers? Traditional frameworks focus on compliance, but emerging approaches reveal the need to measure positive customer experiences and outcomes.

Top 10 Blogs of 2025

Check out the top blog posts of 2025.

Women’s Financial Empowerment at the Heart of a Developed India

As India charts its course toward Viksit Bharat 2047, it will need a financial system that not only includes women but also strengthens their economic power by giving them control over money, decisions, and assets at every life stage.

What’s Driving Quiet Gains for Young Women’s Use of Financial Services?

Young women’s use of financial services jumped 9 points since 2021. Findex 2025 data suggests government transfers now play a bigger role in shaping young women’s financial behaviors, narrowing the gender gap despite stable education and wage trends.

The New DNA of Innovation-Ready Financial Regulation

How do modern regulators keep up with rapid innovation? By rebuilding their regulatory DNA: clear vision, adaptive policy, digital infrastructure, and data-driven SupTech. Here, we break down the strands shaping the future of financial regulation.

Regulating Savings Groups: Only a Proportionate Approach Will Work

Savings groups offer vital, community-run savings and loans, thriving even in fragile contexts. But rising government regulation in some countries risks harming them unless policies remain proportionate and risk-based.

Bridging Humanitarian and Social Protection Systems in Ukraine

Ukraine’s experience highlights a core challenge: humanitarian and social protection payment systems remain disconnected. Bridging them could reduce duplication, lower costs, and improve how civilians access aid in a protracted crisis.

In Sierra Leone, Inclusive Finance is Key to Protecting Coastlines

CGAP and West Africa Blue are linking financial inclusion with mangrove conservation in Sierra Leone, using VSLAs to strengthen livelihoods, reduce pressure on ecosystems, and support sustainable, community-led climate solutions.

The Missing Link in Food Systems Transformation: Retail Finance

CGAP's new analytical framework proposes ways financial service providers, development finance institutions, donors, and agribusinesses can best promote the type of retail financial innovation needed to close the agtech financing gap.

Rebuilding Gaza’s Financial Sector: Lessons from Afghanistan

Rebuilding Gaza’s financial sector will be essential for recovery. Funders should strengthen institutions, restore liquidity, and support local capacity. Afghanistan's coordinated, locally-led reconstruction offers an example.

The Most Undervalued Investment Class: Why Inclusive Adaptation Finance Deserves More Attention

Less than 1% of global climate finance is currently going toward community adaptation, leaving behind low-income households on the frontlines of climate change. Inclusive finance presents a solution, but it is not yet attracting the investment interest that it deserves. This blog explores how private sector involvement can help to close the inclusive finance gap, and what will be needed to ensure that private capital can move faster and reach further.

When Funders Unite: A Financing Stack for Climate Resilience

When it comes to resilience financing, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’: different types of financial institutions need different things at different times. Here we unveil our ‘Climate Resilience Financing Stack’ – a vision for what a well-financed, climate-resilient, inclusive financial sector requires.

Financial Health: Driving Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean

Account ownership in LAC has surged, but true progress means translating access into financial health. Banks can lead by using technology to build trust, design customer-first solutions, and expand inclusive digital ecosystems.

How Digital Innovation is Powering Latin America’s Financial Inclusion 

Digital innovation, inclusive fintechs, and progressive policies are transforming financial inclusion in the LAC region. With systems like PIX and open finance, millions now access, save, invest, and transact digitally, driving growth and reducing inequality.