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Financial Inclusion in Latin America: Looking Back, then Forward

In Latin America, 2012 has seen continued and increased efforts on financial inclusion across the region by providers and policymakers, although it wasn't a year without challenges.

It’s Not Quantity but Quality: Consumer Research from Brazil

CGAP and Bradesco recently partnered with IDEO, the global design consultancy to help develop a payments product that better serves the needs of C,D,E class in Brazil. Insights from low income consumers are often not sufficiently and effectively gleaned before financial products aiming to target them are developed. However, witnessing IDEO's innovative approach to consumer research reminds us that simple yet effective tools can reinforce existing data and provide better insights.

Can Retailers and MNOs Provide More Efficient Financial Services?

When it comes to financial inclusion, retail has been one of the late driving forces in Latin America. In the past, banks have been unable to cater to over 50% percent of households in the region. Retailers have filled some of this gap and have started offering formal financial services to millions of previously unbanked customers.

Re-Banking the De-Banked in Mexico

Earlier this year CGAP, in partnership with Bancomer, commissioned IDEO.org, the non-profit arm of the California firm known for its human-centered design methodology, to create a savings product that would meet the needs of low income Mexicans.

Cash Management Innovation in Latin America

An ongoing trend in Latin America is bringing forward an innovative solution to the problem of cash management through a far-reaching network of small retailers who process cash payments in real time. Could this be a way to forge a Latin American alternative path to address the problem of liquidity management?

Applied Research Methodologies for Financial Inclusion

In September 2011, CGAP’s Technology team invited the Brazilian firm Plano CDE to develop a study that would help them understand the behaviour, needs and expectations of low-income Brazilians in relation to financial instruments. The goal of the study was to contribute to the development of a new financial product or service that would attend to the needs of lower-income consumers and enhance their relationship with financial institutions.

Linking Youth Transitions to Financial Services

There are an estimated 1.2 billion young people around the world between the ages of 15-24, with the vast majority living in developing countries. Whether countries are able to harness the potential of the vast numbers of youth in their economies will depend in part on how they manage the individual transitions that youth make in their lives.

Creative Partnerships Promote Rural Credit in the Andes

The competitiveness and sizable growth of microlending in the Andean Region can be largely attributed to the favorable regulatory framework, but the creativity of the stakeholders in the industry has been an important factor as well. The supervisory authorities in the region’s financial sector have recognized the importance of microlending in the promotion of financial inclusion and have gradually created an environment that has been open to creativity and has enabled the different players to come up with financial services for previously underserved populations in rural areas.

Consumer Lending and Overindebtedness in Latin America

In Latin America household debt levels have been rising in recent years. Increased consumer debt level can in part be expected with growing economies. However, in several markets these debt levels may be leading large groups of consumers towards overindebtedness, and could pose a risk to economic growth, household well-being, and financial institutions with significant levels of consumer debt in their portfolios. This post examines some interventions underway to better understand the phenomenon of consumer lending and its implications.

Green Finance: Bridging the Gap

There appears to be a fundamental gap in the discourse on climate change between developed countries and developing countries. In the international arena, developed countries have directed most action, resources and efforts towards climate change mitigation. For developing countries, the very present adverse effects of climate change result in a central role of adaptation initiatives, actions that people, government and businesses can take in response to or in anticipation of foreseeable adverse changing climate conditions.

Unlocking Barriers: Advances in Rural Mobile Banking in Mexico

Telecomm is a decentralized government agency that operates the telegraph services, bridges data connectivity across the territory, and offers financial services such as domestic and international remittances, as well as bill payments. It has decided to launch a pilot program which seeks to close the three most common gaps in financial inclusion: technological infrastructure, channels and products.

Sound Corporate Governance Is Key to Achieving Social Goals

Corporate governance is becoming a topic of high interest among microfinance professionals. Many consider the lack of good corporate governance as one of the main challenges facing the sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Who Is in Charge of MFIs?

Efforts to improve MFI governance are central to making our industry’s responsible finance movement robust in its practices – not just high-minded principles — and ensuring that it offers meaningful benefits to clients.

The Role of Organized Retailers in Financial Inclusion

We have previously discussed on this blog how consumer goods retailers can be part of the financial inclusion landscape. Today, we start to expand on that theme, explaining briefly why retailers are an exciting opportunity for financial inclusion but how that opportunity is not present in every market and, where it is present, how certain types of retailers could place themselves better to serve low-income consumers.

Understanding the Financial Needs of Poor Mexicans

In a perfect market for micro-financial intermediation, product offerings would reflect the distinct needs of a diverse clientele.

Join CGAP’s Event and Webcast Today on New G2P Focus Note

Join us to discuss the findings from the recent CGAP Focus Note, Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Four Countries.

Is There a Business Case for Offering Services to G2P Recipients?

The biggest challenge when it comes to the business case for banks is that the amount per grant payment is small, and as client research has shown, very little of each payment is left behind in the form of savings.

Will G2P Recipients Use Financial Services if Offered to Them?

Our recently released Focus Note on Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion looks at the evidence from four large and well established programs in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and South Africa to attempt to answer three broad questions that are relevant to different stakeholder groups.

CGAP Releases Paper on G2P Payments and Financial Inclusion

Branchless banking is, fundamentally, a business built on high-volume, low-value transactions.

Can Mobile Money Transform a Country?

Over the past week, the world has been commemorating the 2nd anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. Today and tomorrow we will have two guest blog posts on the mobile money sector that has emerged over the last two years in Haiti. Today’s post is written by two colleagues at USAID.