The Better Than Cash Alliance is a partnership of governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments in order to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
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GSMA report estimates that mobile phone ecosystem contributes around $16.7 billion to the Pakistani economy. To enhance the impact of mobile-enabled digital transformation, it calls for improving digital financial inclusion and taking a whole of government approach to development.
This paper explores the nexus between financial inclusion and financial innovation by looking at data from 6 South Asian countries - including 4 Alliance members.
This ADBI brief discusses policy interventions that can help governments in the Asia Pacific region leverage fintech to close the gender gap in financial inclusion. It calls for ensuring tailored services that promote ease of use, flexible regulation to promote access and active coordination among relevant government ministries to enhance financial education.
New World Bank Findex note discusses the many ways in which young people in Sub-Saharan Africa are using formal financial services for entrepreneurship.
New APEC synthesis report collates and distills inputs from APEC member economies on their challenges, responses, and capacity building needs with respect to financial inclusion and consumer protection.
Kenya’s “Digital Economy Blueprint” provides a conceptual framework for setting up a successful digital economy in the country. The document identifies and explores five pillars of focus and is relevant for our work not just in Kenya but across Africa.
New NBER paper finds that transferring money directly into women’s accounts and providing them financial training led to their increased participation in the labor force.
This paper explores economic informality and how it relates to digital financial inclusion. It focuses specifically on the potential role that digital financial services–including those accessed through mobile phones and the internet can play in encouraging businesses to formalize their operations.
This study discusses the emergence of bKash as the m-banking pioneer in Bangladesh. It focuses on the services provided by bKash and its current operating scenario in Bangladesh. bKash’s str…
New IMF paper outlines policy strategies to help promote financial inclusion through fintechs in the Pacific Island countries. It calls on governments to close regulatory gaps and enhance digital and financial literacy while urging fintechs to take a regional approach to overcome scalability constraints.
This FSD Kenya analysis demonstrates the utility of social media (Twitter) analytics tools for monitoring discussions around consumer protection.
When digital services are designed to only be accessed by more powerful devices, the poor and marginalized are left out. This Institute of Development Studies report discusses barriers in accessing technology-related services in Bangladesh and how they can be removed.
The latest Financial Access 2019 survey shows that around 83% of Kenyans now have a formal account. Cost remains the main barrier for uptake. More Kenyans now save on their mobile phones (54%) than informally.
At a panel discussion during the recently concluded GSMA M360 Africa, Flourish’s Ameya Upadhyay presented on how to harness the power of new technologies to drive access and transparency. Check out his presentation.
Women face additional constraints because of their gender that affect their economic performance. New Oxford University Press paper suggests that specific design features - repeated micro-lending, variation in loan terms, private savings accounts, etc - in financial services can yield more positive economic outcomes for women.
Prepared at the request of the G7 French Presidency, this Gates Foundation report aims to be “a blueprint for improving digital financial inclusion in Africa.”
Unregistered SMEs account for 65% of Nigeria’s GDP. Most of them often struggle to demonstrate their personal and business credentials to service providers and customers. This GSMA research finds that there is a need for new approaches to identity and mobile-delivered ‘economic ID’ solution holds promise.
Columbia University paper finds that even when they are given the opportunity, many of India’s poor women opt out of actively engaging with the formal banking institutions. It finds that education is a significant determinant in shaping the financial decisions of India’s poor women.
This CGDev study sets out to understand the effectiveness of reforms taken by Andhra Pradesh to digitalize service delivery. It identifies access, accountability, choice, and voice as the four principles underlying the digital reforms there.
Based on a survey of over 1,200 people in three districts of Rwanda, this Smart Campaign report delves into the experiences of users of digital financial services.