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Finding the Right Balance: A Toolkit for Regulating Digital Financial Services in Emerging Markets
The number of financially excluded adults has dropped from 2.5 billion in 2011 to 1.7 billion in 2017, thanks largely to digital financial services (DFS). However, finding the right regulatory balance for these services is not easy: Too much regulation can undermine the business case for DFS, while too little can leave consumers exposed. Anton Didenko and Ross Buckley at the University of New South Wales discuss a recent paper that seeks to address these challenges through a comprehensive analytical framework – what they call the Regulatory Diagnostic Toolkit.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
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Viewpoint: Diasporas Are Undertapped Resources For Global Development
Diaspora communities are vital groups for NGOs to positively engage, but it requires a fundamental shift in mindset.
- Categories
- Finance
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Five Things We’ve Learned Creating Data Standards for Inclusive Fintech
It’s no secret that capital is flowing into fintech. In 2018, global fintech investments exceeded USD $100 billion. Yet this investment is highly concentrated among a relatively small group of companies. Blaine Stephens and Chrissy Martin Meier of MIX share five insights from a new research initiative based on 40 interviews with fintechs, investors and ecosystem actors, designed to drive capital to inclusive fintechs in hopes of reaching 1.7 billion unbanked people around the world.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
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Paytm Dispels the Notion That Payments Banks Can’t Be Profitable in India
Nearly a third of all mobile banking transactions in India are powered by PPB and the firm claims it processes over Rs3 lakh crore worth of digital transactions annually, next only to the country’s largest lender State Bank of India.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Vodacom, Safaricom To Acquire Rights To Vodafone’s M-Pesa
The deal, for 12 million euro ($13.4 million), will allow both companies to save in royalties paid to Vodafone.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Kenyan Consortium Launches Mobile Banking App
CBK Governor Dr. Patrick Njoroge said, "Until now, lending to MSMEs has been constrained by the lack of reliable information to assess their creditworthiness. The innovation in this product is the use of all data on customers' transactions to fill this gap. In that sense it is revolutionary."
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech, MSMEs
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Viewpoint: Will the BUILD Act Improve Lending in Poor Countries and Counter China? The Jury’s Still Out
Judging by the Overseas Private Investment Corp.’s recent lending decisions, so far, the answer to that question appears to be “no.” Why? First, because the majority of the Overseas Private Investment Corp.’s loan portfolio, as of the end of 2018, is still in upper-middle and high-income countries.
- Categories
- Finance
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The Number of ATMs Around the World Has Fallen for the First Time
Bank customers are increasingly turning to their mobile phones for routine financial services, and moving away from cash in favor of credit and debit cards.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- digital payments
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