Research & Analysis

China: A New Paradigm in Branchless Banking

While many banked people already use mobile banking in China, the country also has the potential to emerge as an important success story for branchless banking and financial inclusion and potentially a new paradigm.

Financial Inclusion Snapshot: Mastercard Foundation

In recent years, the development community has sustained support for microfinance but broadened funding to encompass the wider goal of financial inclusion. International funders have been adapting their priorities to meet this broader vision, and in 2012, funders committed at least $29 billion to support financial inclusion.

The Journey to Customer-Centricity

To develop a deeper and organizational level of understanding customers, a cross-functional team at Janalakshmi, a microfinance institution in India serving over a million customers in urban areas, applied a design thinking process facilitated by innovation consultants.This brochure describes the process and the tool used to create customer profiles.

Case Study: Striving for E-payments at Scale in the Philippines

This case study examines the design and implementation of the 4Ps conditional cash transfer program in the Philippines, explains the experiences of stakeholders and presents lessons learned.

Case Study: Mobile Money-Based Government-to-Person Payments in Haiti

This case study discusses the design and implementation of the Ti Manman Cheri conditional cash transfer program in Haiti as well as the experiences of stakeholders and overall lessons learned from this program.

Case Study: E-Payments in Uganda with Limited Infrastructure

This case study tracks the design and implementation of the SAGE social transfer program in Uganda, highlights the experiences of various stakeholders and explains lessons learned.

Case Study: Shifting Food Assistance in Kenya to E-Payments

This case study discusses the program elements of the World Food Programme’s Cash for Assets pilot in Kenya, as well as the design and

Greenfield MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa

This Forum explores the contribution of greenfield MFIs to access to finance in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).The greenfield model has come a long way in a short time in SSA from seven greenfield MFIs in 2006 to 31 by 2012.

Can Voice Corridors Help Predict Mobile Money Hotspots?

Bitcoin Versus Electronic Money

This Brief provides information about Bitcoin and contrasts Bitcoin with e-money to avoid alarm about the former to the detriment of the latter.