Searching: Research & Analysis

Social Norms Change for Women’s Financial Inclusion

Social norms can have a profound impact on financial inclusion for women because they can limit women’s ability to work outside the home, engage with male agents, or even own a phone. Knowing exactly how norms apply is critical for closing the gender financial inclusion gap.

Vision of the Future: Financial Inclusion 2025

The future for poor people and financial inclusion is difficult to predict. In what ways will financial services influence inequality and economic participation for poor people by 2025?

Digital Finance and Sustainable Water Service for All

This Brief on digital finance in the water sector looks at how people currently access water service, and finds that it varies from urban to peri-urban to rural areas.

India's Push for Financial Inclusion

This Brief takes a look at India's financial inclusion effort--the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) program--two years since it launched in August 2014.

Digital Finance and Innovations in Financing for Education

Innovations in digital finance can play a role in the Sustainable Development Goals' aim to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

While the SDGs do not explicitly target financial inclusion, greater access to financial services is a key enabler for many of them. By reviewing the research on the link between financial inclusion and development, this working paper shows where and how financial services can help achieve the SDGs.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

While the SDGs do not explicitly target financial inclusion, greater access to financial services is a key enabler for many of them. By reviewing the research on the link between financial inclusion and development, this working paper shows where and how financial services can help achieve the SDGs.

Access to Energy and Finance: An Integrated Approach

This paper analyses the synergies in the distribution of energy and financial services. It describes how an integrated approach could enable financial institutions to profitably serve low-income populations, thus enabling a significant source of growth.

Digitally Financed Energy

This Brief explains how digital finance is enabling pay-as-you-go energy expansion, which in turn provides a gateway to a range of financial products for the financially excluded.

The Potential of Digital Data

The amount of electronic data generated by computerization—digital data—is growing at unprecedented rates. Financial services are an information business—can this growing wealth of data be harnessed to advance financial inclusion?