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10 Things CGAP Got Right or Wrong About Financial Access

The Center for Financial Inclusion’s project, Financial Inclusion 2020 is attempting to make predictions about the future of access to finance for the world’s low income people. So I was delighted to discover in a stack of old papers a CGAP Focus Note containing a rich set of predictions for the future of microfinance – from 2006. These predictions were contained in several sets of scenarios that examined possible futures for financial inclusion.

The Many Faces of the Poor: Mass Market Segmentation

The AppLab Money Incubator in Uganda has studied and segmented the behaviors of rural low-income consumers to understand the opportunity for financial services product development.

Regulation Spurs Innovation in the Philippines

More and more policymakers are now recognizing that financial exclusion is a risk to political stability and impedes economic advancement, and that financial inclusion measures can complement, not undermine, financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection.

Pyramids and Ponzis: Financial Scams in Developing Countries

There are many different flavors of financial crime. Often, highly visible ponzi or pyramid schemes occur in developed countries. But emerging economies are not immune to these problems.

Driving Financial Inclusion Innovation: Why Startups and Why Now?

The recently established Accion Venture Lab aims to play a more active role in identifying and accelerating the next generation of innovative financial inclusion enterprises.

Savings and Credit on Mobile: The Jipange KuSave Experiment

The results of an experiment with a lend-to-save model in Kenya, Jipange KuSave, showed that there is demand for financial services which are quite different from those currently offered by mainstream providers.

Where Will the Next Big Innovation in Microfinance Come From?

If you want to displace informal savings options, you need to at least incorporate those features that people really like about informal options, and then you need to add a compelling argument to switch.

Lessons from India on Weather Insurance for Small Farmers

With 22 million farms covered by a yield based index, 3 million by a weather index insurance and 340,000 farms covered by an insurance combining the two indices, India is probably today the most innovative and experienced country in agricultural index insurance in the world.

Early Insights into Rural Adoption of M-Payments in Mexico

CGAP has worked closely with Telecomm Telégrafos in Mexico to find out if people in isolated communities who lack cellular coverage, and are far away from any financial institution are willing to use a mobile account, and if so what kind of transactions are they more likely to carry out. This post provides some insights on how mobile accounts are adopted under these conditions and what is the value proposition in the eyes of the consumer.

Five Elements of A Social MFI

MFIs have the potential to go well beyond financial inclusion, and many do so by combining financial services with other non-financial interventions in coordinated programs to eliminate poverty and its manifestations.

Financial Inclusion by Design: AppLab Money Incubator Case Study

Grameen Foundation, MTN and CGAP launched the AppLab Money Incubator a year ago, in part, to develop a human-centered design process that shows players with an appetite to go down-market that innovation can be cost-effective and impactful and can also lead to new areas of growth. This is the first part of a case study documenting our experience.

Tailoring Formal Financial Products for the Poor

In our last post, we shared findings from the South African, Bangladeshi and Indian Financial Diaries that built the case for formal and informal financial services serving different purposes in the portfolios of the poor. We found that the two should be viewed as complements rather than alternatives to each other.

Beyond the Mzansi Account in South Africa – Targeting Usage

Between 2004 and 2008 the percentage of banked South African adults increased from 46% to 63%. This feat was driven primarily by the six million Mzansi accounts that were opened over that period – two-thirds of which by people that had never before had a bank account. However, approximately 30% of these were inactive. This post explores the importance of understanding the financial needs of low income clients, and how business models need to adapt to meet those needs on an economically viable basis.

What Policies Make Finance Work for Africa’s Smallholder Farmers?

In some African countries as much as 80% of the population is employed in the agricultural sector. Even so, these countries need improved productivity and access to financial services to ensure food security and reach their potential. So, what policies can support innovative finance that reaches smallholder farmers?

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?

What’s Keeping Us From Innovating in Rural Finance?

Formal financial services in rural areas have long been underdeveloped. This is due to a combination of factors – dispersed clients, low levels of financial literacy among rural households, the high cost of delivering rural financial services (especially low-value transactions), among others. This is the first post in a new series on reaching small farmers through innovative financial services.

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.

The Potential of Electronic Money for Social Good

The efforts of the global development community to harness the power of electronic money for the social good got a big shot in the arm last week. On the sidelines of the 2012 UN General Assembly a coalition of leading countries, global NGO’s, development agencies and the private sector came together and formed the “Better-Than-Cash” Alliance. This coalition can make a real difference.

Benefits and Costs of Financial Products for the Poor

As professionals in the financial inclusion space, we work with a common assumption that formal financial services are better than informal products. But are our assumptions correct?