Leading up to the launch of CGAP’s national surveys of smallholders in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda, we asked a range of experts in financial inclusion and agriculture how household data plays a role in their work with smallholders. In this blog…
In the digital finance ecosystem, aggregators function as the glue that helps entities like businesses, governments and donors easily connect with a variety of payment platforms--like mobile money services or banks—and the customers who pay via…
This series looks into the efforts of various providers to launch product labs that demonstrate new ways of understanding clients, testing ideas and designing breakthrough products.
Big data has a variety of applications to help make financial services more accessible to the unbanked. This blog series explores the big questions surrounding big data's implications and applications as well as demonstrate ways in which it is…
CGAP is currently working with partners to research and further develop the concept of customer empowerment. Our hypothesis is that a more dynamic customer-provider relationship that is based on trust and builds customer confidence will contribute…
This blog series shares insights and reflections from individuals working to find pathways out of extreme poverty for the poorest as part of the CGAP-Ford Foundation Graduation Program.
2015 marks CGAP's 20th anniversary. Much has changed since the organization was founded in 1995. This blog series documents these changes from a variety of institutional and regional perspectives.
This series will feature microfinance managers, investors, and advisors about the current state of practice, obstacles, and promising new work in the field.
Earlier this year, we took a deeper look at smallholder families to get a broad range of perspectives on the challenges of understanding smallholder demand for financial services. As CGAP launches its year-long smallholder financial diaries study,…
The advent of digital credit has extended access to instant, automated, remote credit to millions of borrowers. But who is accessing these loans? How are borrowers using the money? And to what extent are we seeing risks emerge such as late…
In recent years, WAEMU has experienced significant private sector activity to develop digital finance solutions showing exciting promises for financial inclusion in the region. Yet, deployments and adoption is uneven across the eight countries and…
In reality, agriculture value chains - the range of steps and related actors necessary for an agriculture product to move from the farm to the final customers - are often quite complex. Digitizing the processes around payments could make these value…
There is a wide range of ideas and innovations in the financial inclusion space that are changing the way customers are beginning to access financial services. Technological advances, refreshed approaches to regulations, and leveraging the "wisdom…
Failure is something that every company faces on their path to success. The emerging branchless banking industry has faced its fair share of challenges and even failures as providers around the world seek to serve new customers through new channels…
In 10 years of research on regulatory issues surrounding digital financial services (DFS), CGAP has identified the “basic regulatory enablers” that should be in place to create an environment for DFS to flourish. CGAP's Inclusive Markets Team is now…
This special series will explore the nature of pyramid schemes and how they effect consumer trust in formal financial services. Guest authors will analyze learning from global examples of financial crime and its lessons for financial inclusion…
For decades, donors have been devoting significant resources to microfinance and financial inclusion. Over $25 billion had been committed as of December 2011, according to the most recent CGAP funder survey. Largely as a result of such funding, in…
The most recent Findex found that of the world's 2 billion unbanked, 1.1 billion are women. Women face unique obstacles in accessing financial services, some of which result from regulations and policies meant to actuall promote financial inclusion…
This series on gender and finance will provide an overview of some of the key themes that affect the financial inclusion of women today. Featuring views from leading experts and practitioners, it will highlight the important role that financial…
India’s Ministry of Finance released the much awaited draft microfinance bill which is to be introduced in the country’s parliament shortly. This is a short series of commentary on the bill by a variety of experts from the region on what the bill…
