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Inclusive Finance Can Help the World Achieve COP26 Goals – Here’s How

Amid the talk of national climate plans, net zero timelines, and the Paris rulebook, we should not forget about the need for practical tools — including financial services — that enable low-income populations to participate in the climate transition.

MTN Mobile Money Opened APIs – Was It Worth It?

MTN launched open APIs for its mobile money service in 2018. Today, its APIs are being used by over 900 partners to offer everything from pay-as-you-go solar to e-commerce apps — generating revenue and new use cases for financial services.

COVID-19 and Microfinance: What’s Next for Equity Investors?

Access to funding has been a top priority for microfinance providers during COVID-19 . Debt investors have played a key role in supporting providers through the crisis. Now, as providers focus on recovery and growth, equity capital is needed too.

The Menace of COVID-19 for Microfinance

FINCA Impact Finance President and CEO Andrée Simon explains what’s needed for the most vulnerable microfinance institutions and their customers to overcome the pandemic.

Why Do CICO Agent Networks Matter and How Do We Promote Them?

More than a decade since the rise of digital finance, cash remains popular and the ability for people to move cash in and out of digital systems is still vital to financial inclusion. How can agent networks be expanded to fill this need?

Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Not Listening to the Customer

Customer centricity is key to ensuring a microfinance institution's digital solutions actually meet customer needs -- and there's ample evidence it's good for business. Yet many microfinance institutions overlook this critical aspect of digitization.

COVID-19 and Microfinance: What the Data Says About Risk in the Sector

What impact has COVID-19 had on microfinance so far? What are likely future scenarios? Learn more in this blog post, which summarizes key findings from CGAP and MFR's research that began in June 2020.

Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Getting the Business Case Right

Kicking off a new series on how microfinance institutions can avoid common mistakes when digitizing, this post highlights the need to start with a clear business case and presents six proven ways digitization has benefited microfinance institutions.

Are Funders up to the Challenge of Building Rural Agent Networks?

Agent networks are crucial for advancing financial inclusion and other development goals. Here are six ways funders can encourage the expansion of agent networks in rural areas home to many of the world's low-income populations.

Forging Her Own Path: Women and Informal Online Commerce

A growing number of financially excluded women are running businesses over social media platforms to improve their lives. What What does this mean for women's financial inclusion?

Cool in Crisis: How Bangladeshi MFIs Stay Resilient

Through flood, drought and famine, Bangladesh's microfinance industry has survived over the decades and continued to serve low-income customers in times of crisis. What has made Bangladeshi microfinance institutions so resilient?

Has Microcredit Empowered Women in Bangladesh? Yes, But Not by Itself

Microfinance has contributed to women’s empowerment, but to understand the impact you have to look beyond where many observers have assumed they would find it.

How Bangladesh Democratized Its Savings Culture

Bangladesh may be best known within financial inclusion circles as the birthplace of modern microcredit. But it has also democratized savings by developing formal savings instruments that are used today by many of the country’s poorest households.

Rural Agent Networks: An Opportunity for Development Funders

Agent networks serve an important role in delivering digital financial services in rural areas, and they present an opportunity for funders to achieve development goals.

Considering Open APIs for Digital Finance? 5 Things You Need to Know

APIs are at the heart of many innovations in fintech. Over the past four years, CGAP has supported several financial services providers on their journey to open APIs. Here are our top five lessons for providers that are thinking about opening APIs.

Two Sides, One Coin: Credit Risk Management and Consumer Protection

For companies that offer asset financing for everything from solar panels to bicycles, consumer protection measures aren't just good for customers; they can also help companies to manage credit risk and improve their loan portfolios.

How a New Set of Metrics Is Poised to Transform PAYGo Solar

The PAYGo PERFORM Key Performance Indicators offer a pathway to growth and maturity for the off-grid solar industry.

Channeling Women’s Potential to Strengthen Last-Mile Agent Networks

In analyzing how to extend the reach and quality of rural cash in/cash out agent networks, we have come to realize that it is critical to apply a gender lens to identify key barriers for women. Here are three basic steps to do so.

How Can Financial Services Support Platform Workers?

The important question about platform work isn’t so much whether it is good or bad: it’s whether there are ways to make it better. Here are three reasons why CGAP is looking at how financial services could help improve platform workers' livelihoods.

The Social Impact Credit Trap in Asset Finance

Rapid growth in credit sectors, even if motivated by a desire for social impact, can lead to overindebted customers and insolvent lenders. For funders, it is important to recognize that investing in asset finance is investing in risk management.