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Can Tech Humanize Microfinance? An Unexpected Benefit of Going Digital
Shuffling through papers while standing at a pho vendor’s street stall. Asking customers the same questions over and over again every loan cycle. CEP’s staff and clients constantly dealt with such frustrations until the Vietnam-based microfinance institution rolled out an app that digitized the loan and repayment process. Laura Cojocaru and Kelly Nguyen of BFA report on how the technology not only saves time, but helps loan officers connect on a more personal level with clients.
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- Inclusive Fintech
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The Tortoise and the Hare: India and China Put Different Paths to Digital Finance to the Test
In 2016, some US$18 trillion changed hands via non-bank digital payment transactions in China – a value larger than its GDP. Meanwhile, though its population is roughly the same, India's digital finance industry has lagged far behind. But thanks to new digital infrastructure and evolving regulations, this situation is changing fast. Like the tortoise in Aesop’s fable, will India catch up with China, which has bounded ahead at hare-like speed? David Porteous at the Digital Frontiers Institute explores the two countries' approaches and their implications for other emerging markets.
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- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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Is Mobile Money Killing Off the Group Microfinance Model (And Would That Be Such a Bad Thing)?
SAJIDA Foundation, an NGO and microfinance provider in Bangladesh, recently took the bold step of going cashless. But shifting to mobile money meant the end of group meetings – the locus of traditional microcredit for decades. The NGO was betting on clients embracing this new approach, but after the initial rollout, it noted some troubling downsides along with the expected benefits. Ashirul Amin of BFA explores the pros and cons SAJIDA has encountered in its cashless journey, and how it is responding with a hybrid method that blends old and new.
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- Impact Assessment, Inclusive Fintech
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Two Problems, One Solution: How Fintech is Boosting Access to Banking and Insurance for Domestic Workers in Mexico
More than 2 million domestic workers in Mexico go unseen by the formal financial system – they don't pay into a pension or social security system, and remain unbanked and badly underserved. Mexican fintech startup 4UNO is serving this hard-to-reach segment with an innovative banking and insurance product delivered through their employers. BFA's Gabriela Zapata explains how 4UNO is avoiding the pitfalls traditional financial institutions have faced in working with low-income clients.
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- Health Care, Inclusive Fintech
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The Superplatforms are Coming … And They Will Transform Financial Inclusion
With their big brands, big budgets and big data, superplatforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba already know more about most banks’ customers than the banks themselves. As these internet giants make increasing inroads into financial services, what are the implications for low-income customers – and their existing providers? David Porteous of BFA and Olga Morawcynski of MasterCard Foundation explore how these platforms are reshaping the face of financial inclusion around the world.
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- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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The Secret Ingredient in Product Design: How Crossing the ‘Emotional Gateway’ Can Boost Financial Services
Banks can be intimidating places for people who have never set up an account, let alone stepped foot in one. But people love and trust their savings groups, which are a mainstay of financial security in dozens of countries. Innocent Ephraim at the Financial Sector Deepening Trust and Daryl Collins at Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) ask: How can formal providers offer financial services that appeal to users in the same way?
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- Inclusive Fintech
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Four Ways to Tackle Weak Competition in Digital Financial Services in Emerging Markets
Everyone loves a digital finance success story - but what happens when a firm's dominance gets out of hand? That's the issue in many emerging economies, where powerful players and extreme consolidation have raised the risk of abuses of market power. Simone di Castri and Ariadne Plaitakis of BFA suggest four ways policymakers and regulators can level the playing field.
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- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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‘Stealthy’ Saving: Building on Payroll Credit to Automate Savings
Basic savings accounts are essential to helping people build assets, and to establishing their relationship with financial institutions. But customers often fail to open or use these accounts – even when they have the money and the intention of saving it. Acreimex, a savings & credit cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico, worked with BFA to find an innovative, "stealthy" way to introduce savings to its existing payroll loan customers. The results of their pilot program were intriguing.
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- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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