Stefan Staschen

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Based in Berlin, Stefan Staschen led CGAP's Digital Financial Services Regulation and Supervision project. He has more than 20 years of experience working on financial inclusion, focusing on policy and regulatory issues in microfinance and digital financial services. He has worked with numerous regulators and supervisors primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, but also in Central and Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Arab countries.

Before joining CGAP in 2016, Stefan worked for 15 years as an independent consultant on inclusive financial policy and lived for several years each in the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Turkey.

Stefan has a Doctorate degree from the London School of Economics and a Master’s degree in Economics from the Free University of Berlin.

By Stefan Staschen

Research

Financial Inclusion and Disruptive Innovation: Regulatory Implications

This working paper explores the latest wave of disruptive financial services innovations to better understand the regulatory changes that allow EMDEs to harness their financial inclusion potential while containing consumer and financial sector risk.
Blog

Inclusive CBDCs: Inflated Expectations or A New Productivity?

Where will central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) land on the Gartner Hype Cycle? Are they full of inflated expectations, or a new tool for greater financial inclusion? We explore where CBDCs might provide at least incremental gains.
Research

Digital Financial Services for Financial Inclusion: Tools for Supervisors

This technical guide provides supervisors with tools and practical guidance on supervision of digital financial services (DFS).
Blog

When Fiat Fails for Remittances: Testing Cryptocurrency's Potential

Sanctions imposed on the Russian financial system have revealed shortcomings in cryptocurrency's current ability to boost inclusion – crypto users and their exchanges inhabit the offline world where the traditional financial system still holds sway. 
Blog

National Payment Systems in ECA Show Resilience in Crisis Times

Remittances channels are vital for the well-being of millions of low-income families in the ECA region. As international payment systems are disrupted, the integration of national payment systems have been filling some of the gap.