Blog

Should Successful Arab MFIs Expand their Role Post the Revolution

Here we are with an MFI which has to prepare itself for a new era where, for the first time, there is serious talk about new microfinance law/regulations.

Marketing Branchless Banking

We’ve collected examples of branchless banking advertisements from around the world and interviewed providers about the lessons they’ve learned and how they’ve adapted their marketing strategies. The results – including case studies and examples of marketing collateral – are in this compilation deck.

The State of the Branchless Banking Sector

As part of our efforts to promote branchless banking as a way of reducing the cost and expanding the reach of financial services, the Technology Program monitors the uptake of branchless banking around the world.

Opportunities for a Big Leap for Financial Inclusion in Vietnam?

For the last fifteen years, microfinance experts have been watching Vietnam and identified it as a market that with the right policy opening has great potential.

Let’s Play: Making Savings Fun

The borlette system in Haiti is hard to ignore. Part casino, part dream parlor, part bank, the borlette network gleams on the retail landscape.

Branchless Banking Gains Momentum in India

Over the past several months, we have taken a close look at the branchless banking industry in a few key countries. We have presented our learning from Brazil and Mexico over the last few weeks. Today we offer a snapshot of the conditions for branchless banking in India drawn from a summary note of the Indian scene completed at the end of 2010.

Regulation at Last for Indian MFIs

The proposed guidelines introduce customer protection within regulatory framework of credit-only institutions for the first time.

Showcasing Successes in Banking Beyond Branches in Latin America

The Bridges to Cash showcase recognizes players who have built a dense and sustainable network of cash merchants where people cash-in and cash-out conveniently from their electronic accounts.

Matching Types of Accounts to Types of Needs: Lessons from India

By and large, these problems boil down to one issue: lack of convenient access to ‘accounts’ where one can receive, store and withdraw flexible amounts of value in a safe and remunerative way.

Delivering Government Payments in the Wilds of Northern Kenya

Social transfer programmes all over the globe are recognizing the value of paying cash grants through some form of financial “account”, accounts increasingly administered by a network of payment agents.

Recycle Waste Savings Product from Indonesia

Our business idea for the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010 was to mobilize savings using a Recycled Waste Savings Product.

New Branchless Banking Resources – Headlines for April 2011

There are several new resources that have come out recently on branchless banking.

Microfinance Regulation in Post Revolution Tunisia

The need for a new microfinance law came up at a recent conference in Tunisia.

Drivers of Mobile Money Profitability

This post is the second in the series on “Five Business Case Insights on Mobile Money.” In the first post, we shared with you a detailed presentation on the five insights. Here we explain further the first three insights.

Mexico: Promising Moves Towards New Banking Models

Over the past several months, we have taken a close look at the branchless banking industry in a few key countries. Last week we presented our learnings from Brazil. Today we continue with our analysis of Mexico and share this summary note on the Mexican branchless banking industry.

Delivering on the Savings Promise of Mobile Money

By planning payments, households can seek to stabilize their daily circumstances, develop opportunities to improve their condition in the future, and mitigate shocks that can set their families back.

Branchless Banking and Microinsurance: A Perfect Marriage?

In previous blogs Mark Pickens has lamented the lack of innovation by branchless banking providers in products that go beyond payments. But there are some green-shoots of innovation. In this blog we take a look at some examples of early experiments that we have seen involving in micro-insurance.

Can Data and Transparency Strengthen Microfinance?

We have come to expect that consistent, reliable data strengthens microfinance performance and policy dialog.

Commercial Investment Landscape in Branchless Banking

This blog post summarizes a quick review of commercial investments in mobile financial services and branchless banking. We focused our review on equity deals between 2005 and 2010 involving mobile payment companies, agent companies, payment platforms and others providers that we knew were targeting the financially excluded in developing countries.

The Power of Successful Market-led Savings Mobilization

Successful savings products can transform financial institutions, leading to explosive growth in numbers of clients, funds for on-lending and income.