Recent Blogs
Blog
Do Poor People Use Branchless Banking Services?
Statistics such as the 1.7 billion unbanked people with mobile phones have led to a great deal of interest in the potential of handheld technology, especially phones, to provide new channels with which low-income people can access financial services.Blog
Aspirations for Financial Inclusion in Africa
Globally Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the region with the largest portion of people excluded from formal financial services. Only 12 percent of adults have a bank account, and the situation is most dire in rural areas where the large majority of the 863 million people in Africa live.Blog
Why Financial Capability Matters
Many of us looking to achieve full financial inclusion at the base of the economic pyramid have realized that we need to spend time, effort and money more effectively to empower clients to improve their financial decision-making, build assets and become economically resilient.Blog
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.Blog
Microfinance: Excited about Building an Industry?
The real strength of microfinance is industry building – creating institutions that bring useful services to poor people who need them. While clients’ businesses rarely revolutionize the economic fabric of their communities, microfinance institutions (MFIs) do.Blog
Details Matter: Product Design for a Better Savings Experience
More financial institutions in poor communities now offer savings accounts to round out their portfolio of products for poor customers; development researchers are testing the best ways to encourage saving; governments are exploring the benefits of enabling the deposit of social transfers and other cash sources—like remittances—into bank accounts.Blog
Catalyzing Finanical Inclusion through National Strategies
National Financial Inclusion Strategies, together with clear mandates, can accelerate progress towards financial inclusion.Blog
Strong Customer Activity Should Begin on Day One
One of the keys to high levels of customer activity is getting it right from the very beginning – ensuring that the registration agent and first customer transactions are both focused on long-term customer activity.Blog
Details Matter: Product Design for a Better Loan Experience
As highlighted in the recent CGAP paper, Latest Findings from Randomized Evaluations of Microfinance, one of the most common design features for microcredit has recently come under scrutiny, namely the group liability model.Blog
CGAP Releases Paper on G2P Payments and Financial Inclusion
Branchless banking is, fundamentally, a business built on high-volume, low-value transactions.Blog
Who Makes the Rules for the Rules Makers?
While the standard setters make the rules for rules making at the country level, they are themselves country-led bodies, informed by the experience of their member jurisdictions and increasingly by non-member countries as well.Blog
Using Data to Understand Customer Activity
For the last year CGAP has conducted quantitative research on the challenge of inactive customers. In culmination of this research, we are releasing a deck that helps providers understand and develop strategies to address low customer activity in their services.Blog
“Smart Power”
Despite a rise in global wealth, we all know far too well that millions remain in dire poverty, beyond the rising tide of prosperity from globalization and 21st century progress.Blog
Beam in India Demonstrates the Power of Convenience
Beam is one example of a mobile phone based service that offers something much simpler and lies at the far end of the spectrum of financial services.Blog
Mexico’s National Council for Financial Inclusion
Over the last few years, the Mexican financial system has been moving toward a more inclusive financial system by expanding access to and usage of financial services.Blog
The Lessons of Microfinance History
The demand among poor people for tools to manage their money turns out to be nearly as old as money.Blog
Head of Brazil’s Central Bank Financial Inclusion Team Speaks to CGAP
We recently spoke with Elvira Cruvinel, head of a new Brazilian Central Bank team coordinating financial inclusion efforts. Only a handful of countries globally have created such financial inclusion teams at central banks. Elvira is part of this small pioneering group of leaders looking to effect major changes to the financial access landscape. 1. What is the Brazilian Central Bank’s vision of financial inclusion?Blog
Fiji’s Family Assistance Program
The Government of Fiji has taken an active role in developing a financially inclusive ecosystem and a key component has been the implementation of the first electronic government-to-person (G2P) payment program through the Department of Social Welfare (DSW).Blog
MicroSave Releases New Assessment of Branchless Banking in India
India is undergoing a significant expansion in the use of agents (Business Correspondents) to offer a range of financial services. There are many questions about whether this present expansion can be sustained.Blog