Join us for Financial Inclusion Week 2023, taking place October 16-19.

This year’s IF50 competition received over 250 eligible fintech applicants. The 2022 insights report, infographic, and dashboard examines the state of early-stage fintechs and identify opportunities for further exploration.

Insights From the 2022 Inclusive Fintech 50 Competition

Research Topics

A longitudinal research program in four emerging markets

COVID-19 & MSMEs: Data and Analysis to Understand Impact

How MSMEs used digital products during the pandemic, what barriers they faced, and what can be done to support their growth in the digital economy.

Digital Adoption of MSMEs During COVID-19

Jayshree Venkatesan

CFI is launching a strategic area of work around ‘Consumer Protection by Design’ to identify and address newer risks that emerge as inclusive finance is digitalized. As part of this effort, CFI and Credit Suisse are partnering to generate awareness of deceptive designs and the harms they can cause to low-income consumers.

Blog Post

The pandemic <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/06/29/covid-19-drives-global-surge-in-use-of-digital-payments" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accelerated the adoption of digital financial services</a>, especially in emerging economies, largely due to the number of people who <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2021/12/as-internet-user-numbers-swell-due-to-pandemic-un-forum-discusses-measures-to-improve-safety-of-cyberspace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">began using the internet for the first time</a>. The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Global Findex 2021</a> found that of the adults in developing countries who paid utility bills directly from an account, one-third did so for the first time during the pandemic. In India, more than 80 million adults made their <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/06/29/covid-19-drives-global-surge-in-use-of-digital-payments" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first digital merchant payment</a> after the start of the pandemic; in China, over 100 million adults did the same. However, the Findex 2021 data also showed a rise in consumer protection risks and cautioned that less experienced financial consumers were more vulnerable to such risks.

As digital financial services proliferate, new risks emerge. One of these risks is known as <a href="https://www.deceptive.design/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deceptive designs</a>, which are tricks used by companies when designing user interfaces that have the effect – either deliberately or otherwise – of obscuring, subverting, or impairing consumer autonomy, decision making, or choice. In other words, deceptive designs are used to manipulate people into making decisions that may not be in their best interest. Deceptive design is all around us and is increasing with rapid digitalization.

Those most vulnerable to deceptive designs are consumers with low digital capability, low financial means, or are those who are vulnerable because of life events or mental health issues. The use of deceptive designs in financial services, especially when catering to low-income and vulnerable consumers, can cause harm such as loss of agency and risks of data privacy, and can extend to financial losses that increase vulnerabilities and erode trust in the usage of digital financial services.

While the implications of deceptive designs on user privacy and data protection are beginning to be discussed among regulators, consumer protection concerns have yet to be addressed. This is partly because design is hard to regulate, and manipulative design can exploit existing laws and legal loopholes.
<h1>Deceptive Design Patterns Are Ubiquitous</h1>
In the last week, how often have you used an app on your smartphone or a website to order groceries? To shop for clothes? Or logged in to read online news? Chances are at least once. It is also likely that you encountered several deceptive designs during that time. Harry Brignull, who raised awareness of deceptive design, features nearly <a href="https://www.deceptive.design/hall-of-shame/all" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">400 examples of deceptive design practices</a> on his website. The New York Times, a publication that was one of the earliest to speak about deceptive designs, uses deceptive designs to make their paywall “smarter” and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2022/08/19/when-tech-companies-do-it-the-ny-times-calls-it-dark-patterns-when-the-ny-times-does-it-its-called-being-smart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">make it difficult to cancel subscriptions</a>.

In Kenya and Tanzania, <a href="https://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Focus-Note-Consumer-Protection-in-digital-Credit-Aug-2017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CGAP’s research</a> found several challenges with how digital lenders disclose actual pricing to consumers, using monthly or weekly interest rate figures instead of a standardized calculation like an annualized percentage rate (APR). <a href="https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/d6e32783-24e7-4e50-8bcf-8c58f84bd872/content" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research by Mazer and Rowan (2016)</a> also found that some digital lenders only disclosed the price after consumers clicked the “I accept” button and the loan was executed. Insurance, a financial product that often is accused of mis-sale, can also use deceptive designs when sold online. In the UK, Currys, a well-known retailer, <a href="https://twitter.com/darkpatterns/status/1561031067334844418" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nudges online shoppers during check out</a> by preventing them from moving forward unless they choose to buy insurance. In India, until laws changed recently to prevent the mis-sale of travel insurance, it was common to see travel portals use <a href="http://rsrr.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/UNPACKING-DARK-PATTERNS-UNDERSTANDING-DARK.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pre-checked buttons to bundle travel insurance</a> with ticket purchase.
<h1>Focus on Consumer Protection by Design</h1>
The nature of these emergent risks requires new partners to work together – including designers, researchers, technologists, civil society actors, and lawyers who work on consumer rights, along with regulators, supervisors, investors, financial service providers, and tech-based providers. To kick off this work, CFI and <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/us/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Credit Suisse</a> are partnering to leverage the diverse talent and expertise of Credit Suisse employees through the Innovation for Impact series, a spinoff of the bank’s <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/careers-news/en/articles/careers/spark-ideas-explore-new-trails-202012.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Future of Banking Hackathon</a>. Applying Credit Suisse’s Fresh Perspectives! Framework, the bank’s innovation lifecycle approach, teams of Credit Suisse employees will be guided through addressing the challenges that low-income consumers can face from the use of deceptive designs in financial services. The teams will work together to generate novel ideas, and rapidly test, learn, and adapt their solutions to address the presented challenges.

Through its <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/our-company/corporate-responsibility/economy-society/financial-inclusion.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Financial Inclusion Initiative</a> (FII), Credit Suisse has partnered with Accion for over a decade, including as a founding supporter of CFI. Through the FII, Credit Suisse aims to support the availability of innovative and financially inclusive solutions to help advance progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by providing both financial as well as human resources. The Innovation for Impact series provides a win-win opportunity for Credit Suisse employees to leverage and develop their expertise and innovation capabilities while at the same time contributing to an important challenge facing the inclusive finance sector.

The partnership between Credit Suisse and CFI is a way to begin generating awareness of deceptive designs with investors and financial service providers, and the harms they can cause to low-income consumers. The work on deceptive designs is part of a larger body of work that CFI is developing that looks at how to embed consumer protection by design for systemic change to create digital, inclusive financial systems that are more equitable, less discriminatory, and more empowering.

CFI is launching a strategic area of work around ‘Consumer Protection by Design’ to identify and address newer risks that emerge as inclusive finance is digitalized. This area of work will define the term consumer protection by design, identify newer risks (including deceptive designs), and assess whether these risks tend to be prevalent in specific geographies, industries, and company stages, and if they target specific user groups that are more susceptible. CFI will also conduct a landscape analysis of the specific harms posed to vulnerable consumers with a focus on identifying market monitoring tools and regulatory solutions that can be used to mitigate these harms.

The Hidden Traps of Deceptive Design: Embedding Consumer Protection into DFS

Sugandh Saxena

As stakeholders meet for Inclusive Finance India Forum 2023, this blog post highlights findings from CFI and FACE's risk barometer study of the Indian fintech lending industry and considers its implications for consumer protection.

India’s fintech lending industry has grown rapidly since 2014, with the evolution of new models and approaches to lending. This rapid growth offers the potential for many upsides in the form of <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/indian-start-for-digital-credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">easier access to much needed credit and including hitherto excluded consumer segments</a> who may not have the ability to prove their ‘creditworthiness’. In India, as in other parts of the world, the growth in digital lending has been accompanied by a variety of risks. Some of these risks – such as over-indebtedness, poor market practices of aggressive marketing and collection, and pricing – have long been associated with lenders and need to be addressed as a market conduct issue. However, the digital nature of fintech lending poses several new risks that, combined with traditionally known risks, create an environment of poor consumer outcomes and mistrust of the industry.
<h1><strong>Fintech Risk Barometer Study</strong></h1>
While there has been extensive media coverage around several of the fintech lending risks, these cases tend to be anecdotal and do not provide a sense of which risks are highest priority as the industry evolves. To better understand the multitude of risks the Indian fintech lending industry faces, the <a href="https://faceofindia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment</a> (FACE) and CFI partnered to conduct a risk barometer study. The resulting <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/fintech-lending-risk-barometer-2022-2023">fintech lending barometer report</a> is the first attempt at identifying how risks are perceived by various stakeholders associated with the fintech lending industry in India and is a crucial first step to documenting how risks evolve.

For fintech lenders, this report presents an opportunity to understand the landscape, identify the opportunities and dangers, and plan or correct their course of action. For regulators, supervisors, and policymakers, the survey findings signal what areas within the Indian fintech industry need to be more closely examined and addressed with urgency.

The fintech lending barometer study followed a mixed methods approach. First, a survey was used to gather initial perceptions of risks, which then was followed by a series of qualitative interviews with select respondents to further understand how emerging risks impact consumer lives. For each risk, the survey asked participants to rank 23 risks on a scale of 1-7, with one being the lowest severity risk and seven being the highest. The survey also captured comments and feedback from survey participants on these risks and the top three opportunities.

<em>Top 10 Risks Identified by Survey Respondents</em>

<img class="alignnone wp-image-45643" src="https://content.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Screenshot-2023-01-13-at-2.02.11-PM.png" alt="" width="666" height="775" />

The top three risks identified were unscrupulous fintech lenders, rising cyber fraud and crime, and issues around data privacy. The report is being released at the <a href="https://inclusivefinanceindia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inclusive Finance India Forum 2023</a> and can be accessed <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/fintech-lending-risk-barometer-2022-2023">here</a>.
<h1><strong>Consumer Protection Implications</strong></h1>
<blockquote class="pullquote--right">Industry associations have an inherent advantage in gathering early insights on consumer complaints and experiences from their members and in getting inputs on market trends.</blockquote>
Kate McKee, former senior policy advisor at CGAP, who pioneered thinking on consumer protection for inclusive finance, often referred to the three legs of the ‘<a href="https://www.mfw4a.org/sites/default/files/resources/Kate_McKee_english.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">consumer protection stool’</a> –  regulation, market monitoring and self-regulation, and building consumer awareness – where each of the three legs must be stable in order to responsibly and reliably provide for consumers. While the Reserve Bank of India has been proactive as a regulator in issuing guidelines on digital lending, there is a role to be played by industry associations like FACE and others in enabling market monitoring. Industry associations have an inherent advantage in gathering early insights on consumer complaints and experiences from their members and in getting inputs on market trends. For instance, they may hear about specific instances of fraud from their members which can erode the reputation of the industry in general. This provides associations with a unique opportunity to identify emerging risks and either escalate them to supervisors or establish responsible market conduct. This in turn can boost trust in businesses and offer long term value. For supervisors, this interaction with industry associations can help them stay abreast of market developments and assists with considerations for investing in appropriate suptech tools depending on the nature of risk identified.

A host of market monitoring tools exist and several are summarized in <a href="https://www.cgap.org/topics/collections/market-monitoring-tools" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this toolkit</a> by CGAP. However, effective market conduct supervision depends on timely identification of market risks and reviewing how these risks evolve with market growth. CFI’s consumer protection strategy focuses on strengthening market conduct supervision by researching emerging risks and working with partners who can elevate these risks to supervisors. This partnership with FACE is a step towards this goal and offers insights for industry associations of digital lenders in other markets.

Matters of Urgency: Insights From a Fintech Risk Barometer Study

This risk barometer study, conducted in collaboration with the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE), aims to understand the perception of risks in the fintech lending sector in India.

Report

India has seen a rapid rise in fintech lending since 2014 and the industry continues to evolve with the launch of new models and approaches to lending. Yet, as the industry has scaled and diversified, so have the risks.

The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) and the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) are pleased to partner on this risk barometer study that aims to create a systematic baseline of emerging risks in order to help observe how risks change as the industry matures. The study is part of a market monitoring exercise to understand the range of risks and how they are perceived by multiple stakeholders in the Indian fintech lending sector and this report intends to contribute to the fintech lending industry as it evolves to maturity, combining innovation, inclusion, and impact.

Fintech Lending Risk Barometer 2022-2023

Howard Miller

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<p>View the full <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_434ImijU6wxmZro4JHG7vu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Change Playlist</a> from FIW 2022.</p>
<p>Financial Inclusion Week 2022 had over 3,300 registered participants from 2,000 organizations across 148 countries. With almost 400 speakers and 125 sessions, FIW 2022 was the largest event to date. All sessions from FIW 2022 can be viewed <a href="https://financialinclusionweek.org/2022-event" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
<p>And be sure to save the date for FIW 2023 which will take place October 16-19, 2023.</p>


Reflecting on conversations from Financial Inclusion Week 2022, it is clear that the role of inclusive financial services in responding to climate risks has never been more critical. This post is part of a blog series highlighting FIW 2022 sessions that touch on CFI’s four strategic priorities.

Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) 2022 took place in October during an important time for climate discussions. In 2022, there were deadly floods in Pakistan and Nigeria, tropical storms in Central America, and an ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa – to name only a handful of devastating climate-related disasters which have created a backdrop of urgency to address climate change. In early November, COP27 focused the world’s attention on the urgent need for climate action. In December, CFI hosted a <a href="https://globalrff.org/december-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Responsible Finance Forum (RFF) convening</a> focused on the intersection of climate risks and consumer protection. And in the last quarter of 2022, CFI was also in the process of finalizing our multi-year strategy for climate work.

While the urgency of climate change is not new, what has changed in the past year is our understanding of what financial services can – and can’t – do to help low-income and vulnerable people respond to various climatic risks.

The inclusive finance sector has stepped up to this challenge and 2022 marked an important year. The European Microfinance Platform’s Green Inclusive and Climate Smart Finance Action Group (GICSF AG) published its updated <a href="https://www.e-mfp.eu/sites/default/files/action-groups/Green_Index_3.0_conceptual_framework.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Green Index</a>. The <a href="https://www.cifaralliance.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CIFAR Alliance</a> has continued to build an industry agenda for the role of digital finance in climate resilience (including a session at FIW on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyUlwUPPY40." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">democratizing access to carbon markets</a>). CGAP integrated climate into their <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/era-urgent-climate-risk-does-financial-inclusion-matter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new strategy</a> and they ended the year by publishing a <a href="https://www.findevgateway.org/slide-deck/2022/12/cgap-strengthening-climate-resilience-adaptation-through-financial-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">new taxonomy</a> of climate-responsive and climate-supportive financial products. At COP27, AFI published its <a href="https://www.afi-global.org/publications/roadmap-for-inclusive-green-finance-implementation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inclusive Green Finance Roadmap</a>, and inclusive green finance is a key priority for UNSGSA Queen Máxima as well as many other development actors.

The importance and urgency of climate change was clear to attendees joining the many FIW 2022 sessions that covered climate and green issues. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qENaGgm_4k&amp;t=548s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CFI’s global plenary</a>, we brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss how the impacts of climate change are complex and highly variable. For example, fishing populations in the Philippines, poor urban women in Gujarat, and refugees in Uganda are all negatively impacted by climate change, and panelists described how financial services need to be able to support them all.
<blockquote>Fishing populations in the Philippines, poor urban women in Gujarat, and refugees in Uganda are all negatively impacted by climate change, and FIW 2022 panelists described how financial services need to be able to support them all.</blockquote>
Among the FIW sessions related to climate, there was general agreement that the current state of financial systems is not going to be enough to meet the needs of climate-vulnerable populations, and that we need more innovation and better systems for responsible investment. Catalyst Fund chaired a fascinating panel on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XFplsvWs1I" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">business case for investing in climate resilience ventures</a>. One of my favorite sessions of the week was chaired by David Porteous, exploring whether <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2wQFh8SCZ4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ESG frameworks were for purpose</a> from the perspective of financial institutions in developing nations. And looking ahead to 2023, the organizers of <a href="https://www.ada-microfinance.org/en/sam-2023/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SAM 2023</a> explored <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PvZtMqYlnI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the links between inclusive finance, agriculture, and food security in Africa</a>.
<blockquote class="pullquote--right">We are hoping that a lot of the promise of 2022 turns into action and investment where it is needed most.</blockquote>
So, what about 2023? At CFI, we have already started on our climate work and recently released our <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/green-inclusive-finance-a-framework-for-understanding-how-financial-services-can-help-low-income-and-vulnerable-people-respond-to-climate-change">latest research on green inclusive finance</a> and the ways it can impact low-income and vulnerable populations. We aim to build on this and go deeper into the role of inclusive financial services in responding to specific climate risks, like extreme heat or flooding. We are hoping that a lot of the promise of 2022, such as the commitment to funding for loss and damage at COP27, turns into action and that we can turn some of our ideas and concepts into real world action and investment where it is needed most.

FIW Recap: The Pressing Agenda of Climate Change and Financial Services

Event

Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) is an annual gathering of the global community working to advance inclusive finance. The four-day virtual event is a forum for exchanging ideas, research, and perspectives from around the world. The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) convenes FIW each year and invites partner organizations to showcase work, share ideas on what’s ahead, network with others, and more. The community-driven agenda covers the most pressing topics in our space, helping to inform and advise global efforts to advance inclusive finance.

Financial Inclusion Week 2023 will take place virtually from October 16–19. Learn more at <a href="https://financialinclusionweek.org/">financialinclusionweek.org</a>.

Financial Inclusion Week 2023

Lakshmi Krishnan

Lucciana Alvarez Ruiz

CFI’s green inclusive finance framework offers a new way of thinking about inclusive finance in the context of climate change based on four key impact pathways: mitigation, resilience, adaptation, and transition. 

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As climate change-induced events increase in frequency, unpredictability, and severity, the people most impacted by such events are those least responsible for historic carbon emissions. The poorest 50 percent of the world’s population produces half the emissions of the richest 1 percent. Inclusive financial services can have a significant impact on how vulnerable populations respond to climate risks and challenges, but the inclusive finance community lacks an overarching framework for understanding and explaining the critical ways in which financial services can support improved outcomes for low-income and vulnerable people in the context of climate threats.

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The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), in consultation with industry stakeholders, has created a holistic framework to help fill that gap. This report considers evidence on how inclusive financial services can help vulnerable populations respond to climate change and uses the framework to understand the various impact pathways through which financial services can help: mitigation, resilience, adaptation, and transition.

Green Inclusive Finance: A Framework for Understanding How Financial Services Can Help Low-Income and Vulnerable People Respond to Climate Change

This report and infographic examine application data from over 250 eligible fintech applicants from the 2022 Inclusive Fintech 50 competition to better understand the state of early-stage fintechs and identify opportunities for further exploration.

This report and infographic examine data from the 250+ eligible fintech applicants from the fourth Inclusive Fintech 50 competition to better understand the state of early-stage fintechs. CFI analyzes all applications to identify trends and to find innovations with disruptive potential. The massive scale that is only possible with digitalization matters greatly to the financial inclusion agenda, and this year’s IF50 applicants are already collectively reaching 54 million people, many of whom were previously underserved, across 101 countries of operation. The fintechs are young and small now, but as we’ve seen in past years, they grow to reach millions more people and raise millions more in investment. However, despite this tremendous outreach and potential, there are also areas that require attention: funding and gender gaps, inconsistent practices around data privacy and consent, and limited data collection for outcomes management.

Insights from the 2022 Inclusive Fintech 50 Applicant Pool

Mayada El-Zoghbi

As 2022 comes to an end, CFI's managing director, Mayada El-Zoghbi, reflects on this year's Financial Inclusion Week and shares key takeaways that should be addressed in the new year.

As each year comes to a close, it’s natural to reflect on the key moments and events that shaped the year. Beyond the political and economic events and trends – the war in Ukraine, the rise in inflation globally, the floods in Pakistan, and COP27 – the field of inclusive finance itself is reshaping its contours to meet the moment. We saw this very visibly in this year’s <a href="https://financialinclusionweek.org/">Financial Inclusion Week (FIW)</a>, the largest event we have hosted to date – with virtual participants from 2,000 organizations across 146 countries. The topics covered reflect the priorities of global actors in inclusive finance, pointing to the direction the field is going.

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To me, the scale of this year’s FIW and the coming together of the minds of stakeholders worldwide during this difficult time signals an urgent need and momentum to accelerate our understanding of how inclusive finance must evolve to address global challenges. With over <a href="https://financialinclusionweek.org/2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">50 hours of live content and 70 on-demand sessions</a>, FIW has something for everyone. While it would be amazing to watch the hours of rich live and on-demand content oneself, we know few people have this luxury. We have been reflecting on this at CFI and will launch a blog series that highlights takeaways on key topics covered during FIW 2022.

<img class="wp-image-45546 aligncenter" src="https://content.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/4_Closing_Plenary-2-1.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="761" />

FIW 2022 left me with several reflections on the state of the inclusive finance sector and what needs to be prioritized. While FIW covered many sub-topics, the overall theme for the week was “Inclusive Growth in a Digital Era,” exploring how our community can harness digital innovation to expand inclusive financial services and contribute to inclusive economic growth.

In hindsight, as I reflect on the content, I would revise the theme and say that this year’s FIW was really about: “How we can create shared prosperity in our digital era.” Many of the sessions at FIW highlighted that, despite digital financial services’ promise to create inclusive solutions, there are serious shortfalls in how the digital economy is evolving, and new risks and gaps are emerging. We learned that while access and usage continue to rise, indicators linked to resilience have worsened. Even more concerningly, numerous examples of fraud and online harassment were spotlighted during the sessions indicating that the digital economy has yet to pan out as the equalizer that we thought it would be.

Some key messages I took away from FIW 2022 include:
<h3><strong>The future of micro and small enterprises (MSE) on digital platforms needs attention</strong>.</h3>
In a joint <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FCpTM0TAac" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session</a> hosted by CFI and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, panelists discussed the status quo – where platforms retain substantial bargaining power and most MSEs lack the skills or power to benefit fully from the economies of scale offered through platforms. While alternative business models, such as platform cooperatives or open networks, may be options worth exploring, integrating elements of these emerging models into today’s established business models is likely to produce the greatest benefits to MSEs and platforms alike. Sessions by CGAP on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VlU8U3DOdI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">digital platforms</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGzlBKRK-PU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fintechs</a> surfaced regulatory fragmentation, payment rails, and e-KYC norms as pressing issues limiting workers and MSEs from fully benefitting from the digital economy. Regulators, donors, investors, and other industry stakeholders should invest more explicitly to enable a rebalancing of power to favor MSEs.
<h3><strong>Trust needs to be earned; regulators, providers, and consumer organizations each have a role in making that happen.</strong></h3>
A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXw-r70lLXc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session by Consumers International</a> shared evidence on both existing and emerging consumer risks. These included significant increases in consumer complaints in Fiji and major issues around trust in digital finance in India, where 60 percent of digital finance users surveyed stated that they stopped usage because of trust issues. While several digital financial services users sought redressal through customer care channels, 20 percent of respondents in India never had their issue resolved.

Regulators can play a critical role in shaping market conduct. Another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ9_P7bGOvA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session hosted by SPTF</a> provided compelling evidence of fraud and abuse in markets like Kenya and discussed what provider practices could help mitigate these risks. Fair Finance’s session brought up an example of how a regulator can step in to enable greater trust in the financial system for low-income consumers and businesses: they mentioned the Central Bank of Rwanda's approach, where they are working to build trust via a consumer protection law, retaining oversight of financial consumer protection, creating tools to compare providers, and establishing instant complaints systems that allow consumers to submit complaints through email and social media.

These sessions reinforced the need for rigorous research, progressive regulation, and market conduct supervision that incentivize providers to be responsible and strong consumer organizations who can advocate on behalf of the silent majority in most developing markets. Donors and investors working to support market development must ensure that these fundamental guardrails are in place before they scale innovations.
<h3><strong>Regulation and regulators are important in addressing gender inequity and creating trust.</strong></h3>
Gender inequity is perhaps the gap that received the greatest attention during FIW 2022. Toronto Centre’s panel on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISoRGWNdaQQ&amp;list=PL30fMMRd3G_7IGUKLWAQm_Z3zDVIu6LCB&amp;index=28" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Advancing Cybersecurity and Financial Inclusion</a> highlighted the large gender gaps – such as access to technology – and the greater vulnerability, whether harassment, gender-based violence, or outright discrimination, and looked at what regulators are doing to counterbalance the system that is stacked against women.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFIFIvuVo0U" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CFI’s Edoardo Totolo</a> delivered one of the four keynotes and highlighted both the opportunities and the risks posed by new embedded finance players. He emphasized the increasingly important role unregulated non-financial actors play in the design and delivery of financial services and the regulatory ambiguity around who is responsible for what. His keynote ends with a cautionary note to regulators and policymakers to clearly define the regulatory perimeters, articulate the role of third-party actors, promote interoperability and open architecture, and above all, create a level playing field.
<h3><strong>One-size fits all solutions are insufficient; segmentation is necessary.</strong></h3>
Several panelists emphasized that low-income customers are not a monolith and recognized that low-income consumers occupy different societal groups, each with its unique strengths, challenges, and starting points. A key takeaway from these sessions is that when we design without understanding the specific segment we are trying to reach, we will de facto design products and services for men. Instead, we must be intentional and create solutions that address specific consumer needs.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jz8tnEuAIQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AXA’s session</a> on developed markets, including Japan, the US, and France, provided a unique look at excluded segments and approaches providers were taking to be inclusive in these highly competitive and highly regulated markets. For example, French provider <a href="https://nickel.eu/fr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nickel</a> noted their rapid trajectory of delivering a simple product with very clear and fair terms and relying on distribution systems that leverage existing points of sale used by low-income consumers. In another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC2AmET0HXI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session by Mastercard Strive</a>, a panelist from <a href="https://www.withboost.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boost</a> Nigeria noted that women-owned small businesses are not a homogenous retail segment. Recognizing that women business owners had varying levels of digital and financial capabilities, Boost adopted a range of strategies that tried to meet women where they were in their journeys. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp5yhELqTqI&amp;t=12s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session hosted by the Kashf Foundation</a> noted that despite the progress prompted by the pandemic, the digital divide is a nuanced issue that merits attention. Affordability to broadband is perhaps the next frontier, particularly when women don’t always have full control of household income or phone ownership.
<h3><strong>We need to focus on climate adaptation; prioritizing mitigation is not enough.</strong></h3>
In his keynote, USAID’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hUipQztGXs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Songabae Lee</a> provided a realistic and sobering view of the limitations of development finance, noting that mobilizing capital is the current priority at the global level. Recognizing that private sector capital is best geared toward mitigation, while adaptation still requires grant funding, Lee urges the audience to take advantage of what’s currently open rather than beating on a closed door. The open door is to start by leveraging capital for mitigation and then work to advocate for and shift attention to adaptation.

A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyUlwUPPY40" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session hosted by BFA Global</a> on the business case for climate resilience adopts a more optimistic lens, where investors start recognizing the need to move faster toward adaptation. The session delved into the experiences of multilateral development banks (MDBs) in financing climate initiatives that can be leveraged for earlier-stage ventures, highlighted the creation of the <a href="https://gca.org/news/collaborating-to-accelerate-investment-in-climate-adaptation-and-resilience/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">adaptation and resilience collaboration</a> with 18 organizations, and the importance of data and measurement to help move this agenda forward. The urgency of scaling climate adaptation finance was also highlighted in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qENaGgm_4k&amp;t=1s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">session</a> organized by CFI, where panelists from SEWA, FSD Mozambique, and UNHCR unequivocally emphasized the threats and income shocks low-income communities and refugees were exposed to in the absence of solutions tailored to support adaptation and resilience building at the community level.

My colleagues will go deeper into some of these messages in the blogs to follow in this series. If you are interested in revisiting the recordings, all sessions from FIW 2022 are available online. Check out the full playlist <a href="https://financialinclusionweek.org/2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

For curated session lists by topic, please see the links below for the playlists we’ve developed thus far.
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_7YYIjKT10xi4v5vjOKbuLl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Women’s financial inclusion</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_4ysbJRWLiVICDCCHEKSTMY" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Consumer protection</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_434ImijU6wxmZro4JHG7vu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate and inclusive finance</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_5l8T1UH24TIm7H-EM7gydP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Micro and small enterprises</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_5Mn-Gm3O2hgxyaSo9ajB7a" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Digital assets and digital currencies</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jz8tnEuAIQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Developed markets and inclusive finance</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30fMMRd3G_4yq2Ugx050YBIt4wwN5rMs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Impact measurement</a></li>
</ul>

End-of-Year Reflections

Nina Holle

Evelyn Stark

This report is part of a series that shares how we can improve the design and delivery of digital cash transfers for low-income women.

A woman's world changes when payments are designed to suit her needs, digitized, and directed into her own account. During the pandemic, however, women were often excluded from receiving humanitarian cash transfers because of a lack of access to basic identification documents. Humanitarian organizations have become key advocates to allow functional IDS – ration cards, refugee ID cards, cards provided by cash transfer programs from organizations like World Food Programme (WFP) – to be recognized as proof of identity. The ability to register a bank or mobile money account has enabled access to humanitarian payments for millions.

This report highlights the benefits of having an ID, the barriers for women in obtaining an ID, and how we can leverage cash transfers to facilitate women's access.

&nbsp;

<em>This resource was developed in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation.</em>

Bridging the Gap: How Humanitarian Cash Transfers Can Facilitate Women’s Access to IDs

Renee Chao-Beroff

Todd A. Watkins

This blog post is part of a series that highlights takeaways from a global workshop at Lehigh University, where leaders from the inclusive finance sector discussed the question of whether financial inclusion is more relevant than ever during the pandemic crisis.

About two dozen leaders of inclusive finance organizations, impact investors, and analysts from around the world convened recently at a workshop hosted by Lehigh University’s <a href="https://business.lehigh.edu/centers/martindale-center/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Martindale Center</a> to share views on how financial inclusion interacted with the socio-economic crises of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event built on the success of a previous similar workshop that resulted in the publication of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/book/the-future-of-microfinance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Future of Microfinance</a> by Brookings Institution Press in 2020.

Participants included practitioners working, building, promoting, advocating, and leading commercial financial inclusion providers in Africa from a private sector perspective. As such, they are close to the reality of the people they are serving or invest in and their insights are anchored in the on-the-ground dynamics of the African market in the wake of COVID. Here is what they are telling us.
<h1><strong>Impact of COVID on African MFIs, Banks, and Clients</strong></h1>
<blockquote class="pullquote--right">Ongoing crises in Africa are not uniquely due to COVID-19, but rather are a conjunction of many crises during the last several years.</blockquote>
The CEOs of leading African inclusive financial services organizations participating at the Lehigh workshop uniformly agreed that ongoing crises in Africa are not uniquely due to COVID-19, but rather are a conjunction of many crises during the last several years. COVID, in fact, did not affect the continent much health-wise; instead, the impact came more from restrictions on domestic and cross-border mobility, which caused substantial economic downturns, especially in countries and regions dependent on imports and exports. At the same time, climate change effects such as droughts, floods, and ruined crops have created substantial <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cb0258en/CB0258EN.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">threats to food security</a> and increased social unrest in many parts of Africa. Compounding the turmoil, security crises fueled by terrorism, refugees, and displaced populations (<a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/sahel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">millions in the Sahelian countries</a>) have also significantly destabilized Sub-Saharan Africa.

Aiming to alleviate rapid <a href="https://www.ada-microfinance.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Synthesis_Microfinance%20Clients%20Facing%20the%20COVID-19%20Crisis_EN_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deterioration in household financial positions</a> during the pandemic, governments and central banks across Africa issued loan repayment moratoriums, which squeezed lenders’ liquidity, including mainstream commercial banks but especially microfinance institutions (MFIs). Nevertheless, even though the rate of late or restructured loan repayments from clients—the credit risk ratio—<a href="https://www.mf-rating.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/COVID-19-Impact-on-FSPs.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">increased everywhere</a>, debt write-offs among African MFIs have not been as bad as feared. Overall, the sector has shown <a href="https://www.suerf.org/suer-policy-brief/38105/africa-and-covid-19-can-the-financial-sector-stay-on-course-for-a-green-and-digital-future" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">substantial resilience in Africa</a>, although the situation remains tenuous; “seriously fragilized” is how one CEO at the workshop described it.

As for impacts on MFI clients, a stark distinction is apparent between urban and rural settings. Urban clients have suffered most due to lockdowns affecting micro and small enterprises. Many rural clients, by contrast, fell back into an agricultural self-subsistence economy during a season or two, as there were no markets to sell to. Low-income households in both settings saved as much as they could during the pandemic and reduced spending. Workshop participants at Lehigh uniformly agreed that African MFIs’ clients, especially the most vulnerable ones, were—perhaps more than ever—remarkably resilient and able to cope.
<h1><strong>Crisis Begets Opportunities</strong></h1>
As is often true in times of crises, opportunities appear. Workshop participants pointed out that in Africa, new opportunities for MFIs and lower-income clients came directly from constraints dictated by lockdowns. Logistical barriers <a href="https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/Africa_trade_and_Covid19_the_supply_chain_dimension.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hindered possibilities for exporting goods</a>, including agricultural products, and for importing things like fertilizer and animal feed. Trade in services plummeted as people stopped moving and spending, and tourism collapsed in countries like Kenya where incomes are especially dependent on spending by tourists.

However, from these difficulties, layered on top of effects from climate change, new behaviors are emerging in various parts of Africa. Some farmers have decided to shift to organic production practices like agroecology and raising chicken and pigs using only farm-produced feed and farm waste, saving on expensive imported inputs. Similarly, farmers unable to export have increased selling locally in neighboring towns, expanded direct selling along major roads, or began selling <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2020/06/19/what-strategies-do-traders-use-food-survive-covid19-lockdown-kampala/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">door-to-door</a> where possible. Others are leveraging <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/27/c_139092514.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">digital approaches</a>, including e-commerce platforms, social media, and mobile payments. In short, because of COVID restrictions, many farmers in Africa adopted organic, sustainable, and digital agriculture practices.
<blockquote>Because of COVID restrictions, many farmers in Africa adopted organic, sustainable, and digital agriculture practices.</blockquote>
Many people in Africa also changed their consumption habits, switching to local producers for vegetables, meats, and other staples. Circular economy trends <a href="https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Five_Big_Bets_for_the_Circular_Economy_in_Africa_2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">appeared in a wide range of sectors</a> – including agri-food, textiles, fashion, electronics – and also in packaging. Consumers are also <a href="https://www.africa.com/covid-19-increases-brand-sustainability-awareness-shifts-consumer-behaviour-in-sub-saharan-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">moving towards sustainable brands</a>, thanks both to heightened awareness of climate effects and to experiences in lockdowns. Surprisingly, the African response to COVID has been to adopt more sustainable norms and practices in agriculture and consumption – a fascinating resilience outcome.

Another substantial trend evident in these times of security crises and risks is <a href="http://cdn-odi-production.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/media/documents/ODI-YFLP-Youth-led_digital_innovation_and_resilience_during_Covid-19-13AugFinal.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">high rates of youth entrepreneurship</a>. This is occurring across the social spectrum –among youth from both rural and urban communities, as well as those with diplomas and those who did not finish school. Youth are choosing not to migrate and instead are staying put and creating non-traditional businesses and entering new types of apprenticeships, such as small enterprises in agriculture transforming crops or raw materials, and in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/12/14/meet-the-african-green-entrepreneurs-showing-the-west-how-its-done/?sh=7b03d50551cb" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">green economy enterprises</a> such as renewable energy, recycling, utilizing waste, or addressing pollution. This trend is strongly supported by national and local governments, as well as by civil society and corporate social responsibility initiatives, which are promoting and funding incubators and seed capital investments, as well as—in collaboration with MFIs and banks—credit guarantee mechanisms, all aimed at fostering the startup and scaling phases of the young enterprises of Africa’s increasingly entrepreneurial youth.

Africa has the world’s largest population share of youth and the potential is enormous. Often discussed, enhancing youth entrepreneurship has unfortunately seemed a somewhat quixotic policy quest for decades in Africa. But remarkably, the consensus at the Lehigh workshop was that this time the initiatives seem to be working and helping fulfill the aspirations of many young people to be autonomous and contribute to their communities and local economies. Additionally, many African <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/lionesses-business-confidence-report-speaks-high-levels-resilience-africas-leading-women-entrepreneurs-despite-covid-19-49847" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">women entrepreneurs</a> have proven to be very resilient and are growing their businesses due to COVID.
<h1><strong>Acceleration of Digital Inclusive Finance in Response to COVID</strong></h1>
The <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/digitally-reshaping-inclusive-financial-services-in-the-wake-of-covid-19">digital revolution in inclusive financial services</a> is unquestionably progressing quickly throughout Africa in the wake of COVID, including West and Francophone Africa and rural areas that have been neglected until recently.

While financial access in Africa remains low, mobile penetration is high, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2?locations=ZG" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">exceeding 90 percent</a>. Due to COVID restrictions on mobility, mobile phones have been indispensable not only for communication but also for domestic and international remittances. Facing limited access to markets coupled with security risks in using cash for transactions, farmers, cooperatives, and food processing companies accelerated their embrace of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2021/08/16/digital-technology-and-african-smallholder-agriculture-implications-for-public-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">digital marketplace platforms</a>. Survey evidence suggests that most African micro and small enterprises did too which <a href="https://fbj.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s43093-022-00154-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">improved their financial resilience</a>. Banks and MFIs throughout Africa also are going digital and embracing “<a href="https://thecalabashnewspaper.com/afrimoney-gtbank-launch-bank-to-wallet-wallet-to-bank-promotion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bank to wallet, and wallet to bank</a>” transactions and agency banking. Many banks and MFIs are teaming up to deliver financial services jointly or as agents to <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2021/12/14/mobile-financial-services-can-increase-impacts-of-microfinance-organizations-but-the-story-is-more-complicated-than-we-think/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deepen outreach to clients and improve cost efficiency</a> – for example by reducing the need to operate separate branches everywhere. Governments have also gone more digital by ramping up <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2021/04/13/prioritizing-the-poorest-and-most-vulnerable-in-west-africa-togo-s-novissi-platform-for-social-protection-uses-machine-l" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mobile money transfers from social protection programs</a> during COVID.

Moving beyond financial services, agricultural value chains are rapidly leveraging the high mobile penetration by also digitizing delivery services, distribution channels, electronic learning, and messaging at scale to reach out to remote populations (e.g., for health, financial education, agricultural practices, prices, weather warnings), enhancing inclusion and informed decision making.
<h1><strong>Financial Inclusion’s Green Future in Africa</strong></h1>
The African MFI leaders at the workshop reflected on how their clients fared through the pandemic and other recent crises. Uniformly, they agreed clients responded with <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/does-financial-inclusion-boost-borrowers-resilience-three-lessons-from-the-pandemic">resilience</a>, innovative abilities to adapt, and incredible capacities to seize opportunities to not just recover but even advance. As such, African MFIs must follow the dynamics of their clients and deliver products and services that fit customers’ new needs. Client centricity is essential to meet client needs but is also a key element of client protection in light of <a href="https://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/publications/slidedeck/2022_02_Slide_Deck_DFS_Consumer_Risks.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heightened risks for digital finance consumers</a>.

Financial institutions also need to better understand the market intricacies and client opportunities in the green (micro)economy and develop financial products accordingly, partnering with those who can deliver services and technical advice to assist the transformation. Working towards an ecosystem approach to deliver <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/green-inclusive-finance-a-framework-for-understanding-how-financial-services-can-help-low-income-people-weather-climate-related-risks">green inclusive financial services</a> in an efficient, secured, synergetic, and sustainable manner will be the way forward.
<blockquote class="pullquote--left">Working towards an ecosystem approach to deliver green inclusive financial services in an efficient, secured, synergetic, and sustainable manner will be the way forward.</blockquote>
Green inclusive finance ecosystem platforms will surely develop in Africa. However for that to happen, the impact investing sector and climate finance will need to collaborate, which would be a giant step forward as the two sectors have largely ignored the other for the last decade. Impact investors will need to learn how to invest in the green microeconomy as a mainstream target. In parallel, climate finance—so far largely directed elsewhere—will have to understand that unless communities, especially the most vulnerable among them, benefit significantly from environmental rehabilitation, preservation, and protection of biodiversity, sustainable development is not possible.

In Africa, impact investment remains an emerging sector, focused—rightly so—on financial inclusion and agriculture. Climate finance and green inclusive finance are at infant stages. Supporting, from the funding side, post-COVID initiatives from youth and local communities in climate adaptation, will be the next challenge and opportunity for Africa. And inclusive finance stakeholders should play significant roles in close partnership with others in that ecosystem.

The African inclusive finance leaders at the Lehigh workshop collectively sent a very positive and energetic message to their peers. During these crisis times, clients in Africa have shown high levels of resilience and of capacity to overcome. They have developed innovative strategies in the green economy. Financial institutions should accompany them by being client centric in product and service development, in using digital delivery channels, and in working as a collaborative ecosystem to manage new digital risks and protect customers. Africa is a vulnerable continent in the face of climate change, but it can be the most resilient one if we act together.

&nbsp;

<em>The authors were panelists at the Lehigh University workshop and this note is the result of workshop discussions and subsequent analysis. Participating leaders from African MFIs included Anne Marie Chidzero, Chief Investment Officer at FSD Africa Investements, Kimanthi Mutua, founder of KREP, the first microfinance institution in Africa to be transformed into a full-fledged commercial bank, now named SIDIAN Bank where Kimanthi has been CEO and remains a board member, and Pierrette Kouakou, Managing Director of FIN’ELLE in Cote D’Ivoire. Views expressed are the authors’ and not necessarily those of other participants.</em>

Post-COVID Crisis & Opportunity in African Inclusive Finance

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