Research & Analysis

Regulating Banking Agents

This Focus Note reviews global regulation of the use of agents by banks (and where noted, nonbank service providers) and focuses on four questions related to the safe and scalable use of agents.

Agent Management Toolkit

This guide presents practical advice to providers on how to build a viable network of agents, which is a critical component of a branchless banking service.

Microfinance Banana Skins 2011

Now in its third year, the report reflects changing perceptions of risk in a dynamic and fast-moving industry. Microfinance has come of age, and with that, new issues have arisen.

Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations in Deposit and Loan Services

This paper presents the results of a survey on consumer protection regulations in 142 countries. It also compiles comprehensive information on laws and regulations relevant for consumer protection and discusses a number of challenges related to empirical analyses of financial consumer protection to enable crosscountry comparison.

Access to Financial Services and the Financial Inclusion Agenda around the World

CGAP and the World Bank launched the Financial Access project, including a cross-country database on financial inclusion topics and an annual report to inform the policy debate.

Small and Medium Enterprises

This paper introduces a new dataset to fill a gap in the small and medium enterprise data landscape. In addition, it provides the first set of results of analyses with this new dataset, predicting the global small and medium enterprise lending volume to be $10 trillion.

Is There a Business Case for Small Savers? (Brief)

This Brief presents empirical evidence showing that although the savings accounts of small savers are quite costly to provide, there are several important channels through which small savers may be a profitable, or even highly profitable, client segment.

Implementing the Client Protection Principles

This second edition reflects the developments in implementation and practices of the Client Protection Principles into investors’ policies and processes over the past year.

Technology Program Country Note: Brazil

Brazil is seen as a global leader in branchless banking and as an example of how banks have created wide-reaching branchless channels that use cards and point-of-sale (POS) devices at various retail locations.However, challenges remain.

Andhra Pradesh 2010

The crisis that erupted in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh in early October 2010 hit at the epicenter of microfinance in India and has implications there, across the country, and globally.