a woman in Indian dress on the phone in a field of yellow and orange flowers Photo by Alok Avinash/2015 CGAP Photo Contest

Digital Innovation

Digital innovation has transformed the way we live, work, and interact with each other. By leveraging digital technology such as mobile banking, digital payments, and access to credit and insurance services, financial services have become accessible to previously excluded individuals and businesses.  

The digital economy generates new business models annually, attracting a broader range of players to the financial services industry, including fintechs and social networks. This diversity of providers and business models has enormous potential to advance financial inclusion and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Business models build proper connectivity through strategic partnerships, making it easier for innovators to offer valuable, affordable financial solutions. 

CGAP's research showcases various business models that effectively use digital technologies to create and provide financial solutions to people with low income. We demonstrate how increased connectivity can make it simpler for innovators to offer valuable and affordable financial solutions. Our work focus ranges from the digitization of microfinance to open finance, financial services for gig workers, data-driven financial services, and more.  

As digital innovation continues to evolve, we will see even more creative solutions that will further promote financial inclusion and enhance the lives of individuals and communities worldwide.

Featured Collections

farmer selling produce at a street market

Cash-In / Cash-Out for Rural Agent Networks

Cash-in/cash-out agent networks are key to extending digital financial services and ultimately financial inclusion. Providers have struggled to extend these agent networks in rural areas, where sparse populations lead to lower transaction volumes and weaker financial incentives for businesses to serve as agents.
a pedestrian viewing street art depicting a desk worker

Fintech and the Future of Banking

While many fintechs claim to advance financial inclusion, the link between specific innovations and financial inclusion is often assumed rather than proven. The reality is that it is hard for funders, investors and social entrepreneurs know which innovations matter for low-income, underserved customers.
women stand outside their rickshaws Photo by Nikhil Kapur

Gig Platforms and Financial Inclusion

Across emerging markets, millions of informal workers are joining gig platforms in sectors like ride-hailing and deliveries. CGAP’s engagement with platforms, fintechs and gig workers offers a glimpse into what the future could look like.  
A view of two smartphones at the cattle and livestock market in the Lafiabougou district of Bamako, Mali. CGAP Photo (Nicolas Réméné via Communication for Development Ltd.)

OPEN APIs FOR DIGITAL FINANCE

Digital financial services providers will find here information to help them decide whether open APIs make sense for their business and, if so, how to implement an open API strategy.
Photo by Wen Jye Chan, 2016 CGAP Photo Contest

Digitizing Merchant Payments

With vast amounts of revenue and data at stake, merchant payments are widely seen as one of the key battlegrounds in the struggle over the future of digital financial services (DFS).
Bangladeshi worker coloring and drying cloth material, Bangladesh. Photo by Sohel Parvez Haque, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest

Beyond Switches, What Makes Interoperability Work?

CGAP's interoperability work seeks to help low-income users transact more easily across digital financial services networks.
open finance card image

Open Finance

CGAP estimates that two billion low-income customers in low- and middle-income countries are digitally included, but a significant portion remain financially excluded or underserved. Open finance, with its potential to revolutionize the financial services sector, can be a substantial catalyst for financial inclusion.
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Leveraging Data and AI for Inclusive Finance

Latest Research

Publication

Competition for Financial Inclusion: A Conceptual Framework

The insights in this paper point to the importance of financial authorities applying an intentional competition lens and offer an analytical framework to help deliver more inclusive and resilient financial systems.
Publication

Enhancing Food Security through Finance-Enabled Food Systems Transformation

This working paper examines how inclusive finance can address today's evolving food security challenges by unlocking targeted investments in high-impact agricultural value chains that best promote nutritional, sustainability, and livelihood outcomes through agricultural technology (AgTech) adoption.
Publication

Key Considerations for Open Finance

Open finance frameworks have the potential to increase innovation, boost competition, empower customers, and deepen financial inclusion. However, they also introduce new risks that necessitate careful design and robust safeguards. As more countries explore or implement these frameworks, CGAP, BIS, IMF, UNSGSA, and the World Bank offer key considerations for designing effective and inclusive open finance frameworks.
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Latest Blogs

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.
Blog

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.
Blog

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.
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