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The Demonetization Crisis May Be Over, but the Time for Tech Upgrades in Indian Microfinance Is Now
India's 2016 banknote demonetization sent shockwaves through the country's microfinance sector, causing MFIs to write off US$ 1.1 billion in bad loans. In response, cash-dependent MFIs stepped up investment in fintech – but now that the crisis has passed, so perhaps has their sense of urgency. Elliot Rosenberg of Awaaz.De argues that the need to embrace tech is as strong as ever.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
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WASH Away Inequity: Lack of Access to Safe Water is the Most Crippling Obstacle Limiting Human Potential
On World Water Day, consider that 844 million people (nearly 1 in 9) lack a drinking water source that is accessible within a 30-minute round trip from their home. But though this problem can be solved by installing a tap or rain harvesting system, the upfront cost of up to $200 is often prohibitive for people living in poverty. Water.org co-founder and CEO Gary White highlights the power of the poor, when given affordable financing, to provide their own solution to the global water crisis.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing, WASH
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Egypt on the Precipice: Can Fintech Pave the Way for a More Inclusive Financial System?
Financial inclusion in Egypt has persistently lagged behind similar economies for decades. But the country now has all the hallmarks of a market ready to leapfrog: a young population, an enthusiastic embrace of social media, and more mobile subscriptions (110 million) than its population. Sarah Willis of MetLife Foundation and Mayada El-Zoghbi of CGAP lay out four criteria that Egypt must meet to bring meaningful financial services to its low-income communities.
- Categories
- Finance
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Gap Inc. Sets New Goal For Apparel Suppliers To Pay Garment Workers Digitally By 2020
More than 60 percent of Gap Inc.’s supplier factories already provide digital payments methods, such as online transfers to bank accounts or mobile wallets. The new goal will help scale this progress across the company’s global supply chain and positively impact the lives of more than one million garment workers.
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- Finance
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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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- Finance, Technology
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To sell payment services in rural India, MoneyOnMobile borrows a U.S. model
In India, tens of millions of merchants still operate largely in cash with a mostly unbanked rural population. Technology could solve their problems, but the bigger differentiator may be in how payment services are sold.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Indonesia eyes fintech regulation to avoid ‘loan shark-like’ practices
The emergence of these peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, offering loans ranging from as little as a few hundred dollars to several thousands, has so far been welcomed by Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy where tens of millions of people have little or no access to bank credit.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Amazon considers launching branded checking accounts for unbanked
Amazon is reportedly in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Capital One Financial Corp., to offer checking account services to younger customers and the unbanked.
- Categories
- Finance
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