Staff Directory

Maria Fernandez Vidal

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Maria Fernandez Vidal is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist, leading CGAP’s work on Data. Her work is focused on the role data can play in advancing financial inclusion and covers a range of topics including data-driven business models and open finance. She has also worked substantially with fintechs, platforms and advanced analytics. Before joining CGAP, Maria was at McKinsey & Company, working in Latin America & the Caribbean and the US. At McKinsey, she served clients in the financial sector and the public and social sector on a broad range of topics including strategy, risk, operations and organization. Maria previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Endeavor.

Maria holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with majors in strategic management and finance, and graduate and undergraduate degrees in economics from the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

By Maria Fernandez Vidal

Blog

COVID-19 Highlights Need for Stronger Safety Nets for Gig Workers

COVID-19 has highlighted the volatile nature of platform work and the need for platforms to provide stronger social safety nets to workers.
Research

Platform Business Models

Most “unicorn” companies are platforms. But what exactly are platforms? What are the main business models? Are to what extent are they relevant to financial inclusion for low-income customers? Explore the answers in this slide deck.
Blog

E-Commerce Is Taking Off in Rural China: 3 Lessons for Other Countries

China's e-commerce market has $2 trillion in annual sales and is growing as digital services reach rural areas. CGAP visited several villages and spoke with farmers and manufacturers about e-commerce. Here's what we learned.
Research

Is Data Privacy Good for Business?

Do poor customers value data privacy? Six experiments in India and Kenya indicated they do and are willing to pay for it. For providers, this suggests that offering products with privacy and protection features can give them a competitive market edge.
Blog

Algorithm Bias in Credit Scoring: What’s Inside the Black Box?

Computers can make faster, better, and less biased lending decisions than humans, but only if human bias hasn’t crept into their algorithms.