Blog

Can Digital Cash Transfers Enable Financial Inclusion in India?

Although digitizing cash transfers in India is gaining momentum with a renewed effort by the national government, the direct positive impact on financial inclusion remains unclear.

USSD Access: A Gateway and Barrier to Effective Competition

To serve the unbanked, mobile financial service providers continue to rely on USSD technology to bring innovations like mobile money to the unbanked. CGAP research in Kenya and Tanzania identified several competition-relevant issues in USSD access.

What is USSD & Why Does it Matter for Mobile Financial Services?

USSD - unstructured supplementary service data - is currently the best available communications technology to deliver mobile financial services to low-income customers.

Heuristics: A Behavioral Approach to Financial Literacy Training

ideas42 shares findings on what an effective financial literacy program could look like, based on insights about human psychology and decision-making.

UOB Takes a Human-Centered Approach to Rwanda’s Smallholders

Nick Meakin of Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB) discusses how Rwanda's first and largest microfinance bank is using a human-centered approach to designing financial products that better meet the needs of smallholder farmers.

Wing Pushes Digital Finance Frontiers Further in Cambodia

Wing has become a leading player in financial inclusion in Cambodia, with over one million over-the-counter (OTC) customers and about 500,000 registered customers who can make transactions with cards or mobile phones.

Managing Data is Critical to Knowing Your Customer

Innovations that make it easier for financial service providers to “know their customers” are critical for organizations that prioritize low-income client segments.

Applying the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards in Lebanon

The Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS) handbook provides a framework to analyze the basic requirements for financial service providers working in crisis environments such as Lebanon.

Can HCD Lead to Digital Financial Solutions for Smallholders?

Designing appropriate and affordable financial solutions for smallholder households can be difficult. In collaboration with IDEO.org and Dalberg’s Design Impact Group, CGAP will draw on its experience to apply human-centered design (HCD) to smallholder product design.

Digital Finance in Bangladesh: Where are all the Women?

Bangladesh has long been a success story for women’s financial inclusion, but in terms of digital finance, the story is very different.

New Basel Report Documents Financial Inclusion's Mainstreaming

A new report from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision reveals the extent to which supervisory and regulatory practices are evolving in response to the emergence of new institutions, financial products and intermediation channels.

Responsible Digital Finance for Kenyan Merchants: Five Priorities

Kopo Kopo enables more than 10,000 merchants to accept mobile payments from their customers. As Kopo Kopo considers consumer protection risk areas, they identified key concerns and questions in each which they are working on addressing.

What Will It Take for Payments Banks to Succeed in India?

Despite the introduction of innovation-friendly regulations and other advances, wide-scale digital payment services remain unproven in India.

Papayas and Digital Finance: Emerging Consumer Risks in Colombia

The results from recently conducted design workshops with digital financial services clients in Colombia point to simple, yet innovative ideas to help mitigate consumer risks in digital finance.

AML/CFT: Balancing Regulation with Innovation

CGAP has conducted research to better understand how processes for achieving anti-money laundering (AML) compliance affect how financial institutions can extend financial services to poor populations.

Setting the Stage for Mobile Money in Myanmar

The rapid growth in telecommunications coverage in Myanmar is laying important groundwork that can support growth of digital financial services for the unbanked.

Can India Achieve Universal Digital Financial Inclusion?

India's Prime Minister has launched an ambitious financial inclusion program aimed at reaching 75 million people with bank accounts and subsequently government transfers, insurance, pensions and credit.

The Arab World in Crisis: How Should Donors & Investors Respond?

Donors and investors focusing on financial inclusion in the Arab World are determining how to adapt their approaches given the level of crisis in the region. It's a complicated issue, but many organizations have provided resources to aid decisionmaking.

Benin’s Expansion of Digital Finance

The market for digital financial services in Benin shows potential. However, major barriers need to be addressed for digital finance to thrive and contribute to financial inclusion.

2015 Set to be Big Year for Digital Financial Inclusion in India

Key regulatory moves in India during 2014 were digital finance game-changers.