South asia

Mobile Coverage and its Impact on Digital Financial Services

“The study finds that the type of mobile coverage provided has a significant effect on the DFS UI and type of mobile phone that can be used for DFS access.Feature phones and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data transactions continue to be the choice for the vast majority users.”

Instant Secure Mobile Payment Scheme

The paper proposes a new communication network, Speed PAy, that jointly connects the banks together and allows the customers to process all kind of transactions with the use of their cell phones and without the need for a new SIM.

Informal Sector and Mobile Financial Services in Developing Countries: Does Financial Innovation Matter?

This paper investigates the impact of mobile financial services - MFS (mobile money, and mobile credit and savings) on the informal sector using data from 101 emerging and developing countries over the period 2000-15.

Inclusive Growth: The Global Challenges of Social Inequality and Financial Inclusion

The book outlines a journey from enabling models of government and business to strategies for creating both financial and social inclusion and entrepreneurism as mechanisms for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Improving Financial Inclusion through the Delivery of Cash Transfer Programmes: The Case of Mexico's Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera Programme

This paper follows a quasi-experimental research design to assess the impact of the electronic payment system of Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera (POP) programme.

Impact of demonetization on diffusion of mobile payment service in India: Antecedents of behavioral intention and adoption using extended UTAUT model

The paper shows that behavioral intention, demonetization and facilitating conditions have a positive impact on the adoption of mobile payment services in India.

Security perception in the adoption of digital payments

This paper looks at the impact of security perceptions on the adoption of digital payments and finds that financial service providers (FSPs) should carefully consider risk and trust issues to enable uptake. They should also use tailored promotional strategies to cater to different genders.

Global cooperation to tackle digital divide

UNCTAD’s Digital Economy Report presents recent trends and discusses key policies for value creation and capture and calls for greater international collaboration.

BSP Holds Digital Payments Leaders Summit as the Country Moves Closer to a Cash-lite Economy

Country Diagnostic: The Philippines (2019 edition)

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Government recognize digital payments as a policy priority to enable Filipinos to seize the opportunities of the digital revolution.

The International Labour Organization commits to expanding the use of responsible digital payments to advance decent work

New partnership will result in promoting digital payments as an important tool to increase security, financial inclusion and economic opportunities in the workplace.

In Bangladesh, key public and private sector actors commit to scaling digital wages across garment sector

Dhaka, November 20, 2019 - Media release by Government of Bangladesh: Building on what has been achieved so far, the government and the private sector have committed to working together to…

Call to action: Digitizing workers’ payments in the garment sector in Bangladesh

Leading brands call on other companies and suppliers in Bangladesh to grasp the opportunity to drive inclusion, efficiency, and transparency through wage digitization…

Bangladesh Digital Wages Summit

Scaling Digital Wages: An Opportunity for Garment Employees and Manufacturers…

Global evidence on contribution of MSMEs

New ILO study reveals seven in 10 workers are self-employed or in small businesses. The study also finds that an average of 62% of employment (in the 99 countries studied) is in the informal sector. It calls for creating an enabling environment for these businesses and supporting them through access to finance and digital infrastructure.

Southeast Asia internet economy hits $100 billion

The Bain & Company report shows that two Alliance members, Indonesia and Vietnam, are growing the fastest and the adoption of digital payments in the region is expected to cross $1 trillion by 2025.

New insights into inclusion-focused fintech 

The recently launched Inclusive Fintech 50 whitepaper looks at how early-stage fintechs are working on financial inclusion. Findings reveal that “funding is concentrated in several notable ways, innovation is not limited to technology and common standards are needed to bring clarity to the field.”

How mobile phones improve market efficiency?

This paper finds that mobile phone network rollout, that allowed traders better access to market information, led to a 10-13% reduction in price dispersion of maize crop.

Senegal: tech helps boost access to health to leave poverty behind

This blog post was originally published in the Action 2030 Blog on unsdg.un.org.

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.