-
Viewpoint: Postal Service banking system possible in U.S. – if past pitfalls avoided
As of 2015, about 7 percent of U.S. households were “unbanked,” meaning that no one in the household had a checking or savings account. An additional 20 percent of households were “underbanked,” meaning that they relied, at least in part, on payday lenders, check cashing services, pawn shop loans, or other non-traditional sources for financial services.
- Region
- North America
-
Press release: IFC and Mastercard Expand Partnership to Drive Greater Financial Inclusion in Emerging Markets
Electronic payments help underserved people and small businesses more fully participate in the formal economy. Yet, financial institutions in emerging markets often have difficulty covering their transaction settlement obligations, making it harder to rapidly scale financial services where they are needed most.
- Categories
- Finance
-
European Investment Bank and International Monetary Fund join forces to boost financial inclusion in Africa
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have signed a letter of understanding to promote sustainable economic development, financial stability and inclusive growth in Africa
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Gates Foundation lays out its 3 steps to global financial inclusion
“In the case of financial inclusion, it’s not about building a parallel system for poor people, but it’s about building inclusive solution for everyone,” Voorhies said.
-
A Test Case for Digital Leap-Frogging: What the Financial Inclusion Community Can Learn from Vietnam
With its rapid economic expansion, large unbanked population, high mobile penetration and progressive regulations, Vietnam has the potential to leap-frog over brick-and-mortar banking and arrive directly at the forefront of digital finance. Krishna Thacker of MetLife Foundation in Asia profiles an emerging innovator in the country's mobile payments space, and explores lessons learned in driving the uptake of digital financial services.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
-
Pakistan Government to Set up $75 Million Fund for Small Borrowers, Microentrepreneurs
The government has decided to set up a $75-million fund at the State Bank of Pakistan for borrowers interested in setting up small businesses, which is also expected to attract people to vote for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the upcoming general elections.
- Region
- South Asia
-
Press release: International Monetary Fund Releases Gender Disaggregated Financial Access Survey
As part of its commitment to support financial inclusion, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducts an annual Financial Access Survey (FAS). The FAS is a high-quality supply-side financial inclusion database with a global reach to support policy analysis and formulation in the financial inclusion area. The 2016 FAS round included a pilot to capture the financial access gender data gap and support the IMF’s analysis of women’s economic empowerment in boosting growth and reducing income inequality. [2] The pilot, which included the participation of 28 countries, revealed that in almost half of the participating economies, financial service providers had access to their customers’ gender information.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
-
Accenture, Grameen Foundation collaborate to leverage AI, AR to help low-income women
New applications leverage the power of artificial intelligence and augmented reality to improve financial capacity and decision-making for and by the poor.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
Parent Organization
