-
Winners and Losers on the Road to Financial Inclusion: FI2020 Roadmaps help navigate the ongoing transformation in financial services
There is a transformation going on in financial services, fueled by rising incomes and IT breakthroughs. Now is a time of experimentation with new products, providers and delivery systems that reach previously excluded clients. Elisabeth Rhyne, Managing Director at the Center for Financial Inclusion discusses the FI2020 Roadmaps, with recommendations on navigating this new environment.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Looking For The Next Big Thing In Smartphones? Think Digital Inclusion In Developing Countries
If you’re looking for a revolution involving smartphones, you’re unlikely to find one by staking out front row seats at the next new product announcement. The transition from basic “feature” phones to smartphones is about to reshape how a large fraction of the world’s population engages with information.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Philippines central bank in broad Islamic finance push
In what could be one of the most ambitious efforts to facilitate Islamic finance in a non-Muslim country, the Philippines' central bank is pushing several initiatives to develop the sector and encourage financial inclusion of the Muslim minority.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
Not Your Mother’s Microfinance
Forward-thinking small business owners across the developing world are turning to the online space as an alternative source of small business loans.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Bank vs. Telco: The simmering mobile money standoff
Professional conferences are usually heavy on information and light on emotion. But participants at Friday’s Mobile Money conference were treated to as impassioned a debate as you’re likely to see in a roomful of financial services practitioners and academics. The combatants: a banker and a telco representative competing in the mobile financial services space in Africa.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Financial services access hits 67% on mobile payments
Two thirds of Kenyans are now able to access formal financial services indicating increased deposit mobilisation in the country following success in mobile payment services and increased penetration by commercial banks.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
The Road from Innovation to Scale: Experiments to Improve Product Design
As part of NextBillion Financial Innovation’s launch, we invited a number of leaders to contribute their views on where innovation is heading, and what obstacles remain. Today Dean Karlan, president and founder of IPA, describes how to design innovative financial products that are both scalable and effective in addressing the real needs of the world’s poor.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
‘Market Relationships’ that Stand the Test of Time: A Q&A with TechnoServe’s Simon Winter on progress and peril in Ag development
TechnoServe is a nonprofit that is squarely focused on profits ... for low-income farmers and small businesses, that is. Simon Winter, senior vice president of development, says once market relationships are built and skill-building strengthened, sourcing costs from smallholders can absorbed in the cost of the goods being sold.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
The Best of NextBillion in Your Inbox Each Week!
Subscribe to NB Notes for news, jobs & on-the-ground insights from the world of emerging markets business.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.