Blog

How Speed Dating Led to Progress on Digital Finance in Tunisia

Despite having all the necessary ingredients for digital financial services to take off, less than four percent of Tunisians use mobile financial services. What does it take to move a market beyond stalemate?

Did India’s Central Bank get Payments Bank Approvals Right?

India's Central Bank got many things right when it comes to the 11 new approvals for payments bank licenses. These approvals are big catch-up step for digital finance in India, but it may be challenging for the country to continue being innovation-friendly.

Customer Perspectives on Customer Empowerment

In a context where many low-income customers are unable to access financial services, CGAP is interested in learning more about what drives customers to become more empowered.

Payment Innovations in Turkey: Not (Yet) Reaching the Unbanked

Innovations on payment systems in Turkey have the potential to move beyond the current reach of bank accounts and cards.

Gaining Insights into Digital Design from Cambodia’s Smallholders

Insights from smallholders are informing the design of better digital financial services for farmers in Cambodia, through a human-centered design process.

Partnership: Missing Ingredient to Mobile Money APIs

Open APIs bring the promise of expanding the reach and benefits of financial services for the unbanked. But there remain no real examples of widely adopted open APIs for mobile money.

Turkish Banks at the Forefront of MSME Lending, but Gaps Remain

A look at lending to microenterprises in Turkey, in the second blog in a series about financial inclusion in the country in 2015.

Fixing the Hidden Charges in Lipa na M-Pesa

Kenyan regulators took action to disclose Lipa na M-Pesa’s pricing structure. The move highlights a growing problem as digital financial services expand: Existing financial consumer protection rules are not being enforced consistently on these delivery channels.

A Multi-Digit Divide? Building Basic Financial Numeracy

The behavior and practices of "oral communities" - where most people are illiterate - may help to explain both the scale of account dormancy in mobile money and the prevalence of over-the-counter (OTC) mobile money services.

What Can Donors Do to Ensure Responsible Digital Finance?

For digital finance to be a transformative tool, consumers must have greater confidence in the markets and in providers that deliver those services, writes USAID's Matt Homer.

Progress and Opportunities for Financial Inclusion in Turkey

This blog looks at the current state of financial inclusion in Turkey, which holds the G20 presidency and has declared financial inclusion one of its priorities.

Merchants and Agents: Apples and Oranges?

Digital financial services providers that pursue mobile merchant payments are creating acquiring networks of merchants able and willing to accept payment for goods and services. How can they build on existing agent networks?

Lessons on Leadership: Reflections from Two Decades in Banking

What can leaders do to embed a culture of customer-centricity? Anil Kumar SG, who has 25 years of experience in banking, shares his ideas. Watch the video to learn more.

Lessons on Leadership: The Power of Micro-Segmentation

Anil Gupta, of Aircel Limited, discusses how telecom companies like his use micro-segmentation to better serve customers and how financial service providers could, too.

Supervisor’s Experience with Expanding Agent Networks: 4 Insights

As agent networks expand, they bring great opportunity by facilitating cutting edge digital financial products. But with this expansion comes risk and serious implications for financial supervision.

How to Drive Merchant Payments? Build Solutions Merchants Want

When value-added services are added to merchant payment solutions, does usage increase?

Lessons on Leadership: From Product-Centric to Customer-Centric

Intrigued by customer centricity, but not sure where to begin? Doug Leather, author of The Customer-Centric Blueprint, offers advice in this CGAP video blog series on customer centricity.

Lessons on Leadership: Check Your Assumptions

Maya Vengurlekar shares a story that changed the way CRISIL Foundation approaches its programming.

The Smallholder Lens: Financial Success, Struggle in Mozambique

Photos from smallholder families in Mozambique tell the human story behind the data on the unique challenges the world's 475 million smallholder families face.

Mobile Merchant Payments: The Next Battleground?

In order to take off, mobile payments offerings need to be not only as good as cash, but decidedly better in at least one respect.