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Unlocking the Power of Digital Financial Services for Humanitarian Response
More people worldwide are in crisis than ever before and the humanitarian sector is transforming how it responds to them; it's moving away from a commodities-based approach toward cash-based assistance. Digitizing these cash payments can help build bridges between the humanitarian and development sectors, but progress has been slow. What can speed it up? A new report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation might help.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- data, digital finance, fintech
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Using Evidence to Optimize Savings and Loan Payment Channel Choices
The OPTIX team at BFA, along with partner Banco WWB in Colombia, set out to learn more about various client interactions with financial service providers; for instance, why do clients choose a certain transaction location? The work is designed to help Banco WWB strengthen their business while creating a more compelling portfolio of services for their customers’ needs.
- Categories
- Finance
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The Fourth Industrial Revolution: How Big Data and Machine Learning Can Boost Inclusive Fintech
It's easier and cheaper to generate data than ever before, and the tools to turn data into insights are growing exponentially. So much so, according to Matt Grasser of BFA, that any organization dealing with data that does not apply machine learning will be left behind. He explores the experiences of Destacame.cl, a fintech startup, in using machine learning to help identify good and bad payers based on a score.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Microfinance for Refugee Populations: What We’ve Learned and Where to Go Next
Currently, 21.3 million people are registered with United Nations agencies as refugees, and their financial inclusion has become a matter of importance and urgency. The Social Performance Task Force has been working to identify the refugees' needs and recently compiled some guidelines, “Serving Refugee Populations: The Next Financial Inclusion Frontier,” for financial service providers.
- Categories
- Finance
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Don’t Just Color It Pink and Call It Financial Inclusion for Women
To close the financial inclusion gender gap, providers will have to do more than simply making cosmetic changes to their existing services. To that end, more than 100 financial regulators and policymakers recently gathered in Fiji and adopted a 10-point proposal focused on creating regulatory and operational environments conducive to bringing financial products and services to women – a possible game-changer for women’s financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance, Uncategorized
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How Catalyst Fund Helped PayGo Energy Build a Foundation for Growth
As startups move past a proof of concept and start to scale, they require whole new sets of systems, operational processes and skills that will allow them to grow and expand. A well-thought-out backend system can help make the transition, but building it requires a team with the technical expertise to implement the right changes.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- fintech, microfinance
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Where Aggregators – and Open APIs – Fit Into Financial Inclusion
The introduction of a truly Open API is an exciting prospect for individuals and institutions interested in financial inclusion – digital financial providers, economists, technologists and developers alike. Building a successful business model, however, requires that the Open API is technically sound and that the financial inclusion community is included and encouraged to collaborate on innovative solutions.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Mobile Money Meets Microcredit: Three Key Decisions in Taking a Concept from Design to Pilot
SAJIDA Foundation in Bangladesh is using evidence from data analytics, business case analysis and client research to improve cross-selling as part of the OPTIX project. Three key evidence-based programmatic decisions were necessary to take a new mobile financial service-based microfinance initiative from the design table to being piloted in the field.
- Categories
- Finance