Digital payments

The State Of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems In Africa

The report assesses the landscape of 32 instant payment systems in Africa, measuring their performance on criteria such as interoperability, use cases, channels, and governance.

Mobile Money and the importance of timely, complete payments to frontline health campaign workers in the fight to eradicate polio: pilot experience from a WHO digital payment platform in Africa

Kenya's National Payments Strategy 2022-2025

The 2022-2025 strategy envisages a secure, fast, efficient and collaborative payments system that supports financial inclusion and innovations for all Kenyans.

Developing Inclusive Digital Payment Systems

This report from Centre for Strategic and International Studies makes a strong case for digital payments for equity, development and security.

Data Privacy and Protection: Guidance Note to Kenya’s Digital Financial Services

This guidance note highlights how Kenya’s innovation and fintech ecosystem can comply with data protection laws while keeping the customer in mind.

McKinsey: The future of payments in the Middle East

Through surveys with consumers and payments practitioners, McKinsey share anticipated trends which will shape the region’s ‘payments revolution’ over the next five years.

Ethiopia Digital Payments Strategy: Digital Ethiopia 2025

A digital strategy for Ethiopia inclusive prosperity

Accelerating winds of change in global payments

The COVID-19 crisis is having a significant and widespread effect on global payments across sectors. The most striking and potentially lasting impact is an accelerating pace of change in the industry.

The digital lives of refugees and Kenyans with disabilities in Nairobi: A human-centred design approach to identifying mobile-enabled opportunities

This research focuses on disability, using human-centred design methods to better understand how refugees and Kenyans with visual and hearing impairments in Nairobi use mobile technology and potential opportunities that it could provide.

Toward a Cash-Lite Ghana: Building an Inclusive Digital Payments Ecosystem

The Ghana Digital Payments Roadmap is designed to chart the way to a vibrant and inclusive digital payments ecosystem.

Opportunities for digital in Pakistan 

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.

Youth, entrepreneurship and digital financial inclusion

New World Bank Findex note discusses the many ways in which young people in Sub-Saharan Africa are using formal financial services for entrepreneurship.

Digital Economy Blueprint: Kenya

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.

How to create modern G2P payment systems

New CGAP focus note explores the core idea behind future-ready G2P payments, lays out its advantages and challenges, and describes how governments can create modern G2P payments systems. It draws heavily from ongoing efforts in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.

8 ways to boost Africa's digital ecosystem

The World Economic Forum and International Trade Centre’s “Africa e-commerce agenda” discusses 8 policy areas - including enhancing digital payments - that can help unleash the potential of e-commerce in the continent.

bKash: Revolutionizing Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh?

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…

Did you see my tweet?  

This FSD Kenya analysis demonstrates the utility of social media (Twitter) analytics tools for monitoring discussions around consumer protection. 

How to consolidate gains in digital payments

This CG Dev paper, by Professor Njuguna Ndung’u, shows how M-Pesa’s success has led to a series of endogenous innovations that have shaped Kenya’s digital space. It outlines several important challenges that Kenya will need to address in order to further consolidate its success, including connectivity issues, digital ID, interoperability and consumer protection.

The Digital Lives of Refugees

This report by GSMA and UNHCR looks at the ways in which refugees are using mobile phones to help guide digital interventions by humanitarian organizations and mobile network operators.

Understanding merchant payments landscape 

A new Karandaaz study shows that around 95% of merchants in Pakistan do not accept digital payments. To promote adoption, it calls for creating awareness among users, better infrastructure, interoperability and reliability of services.