Citi Foundation provides $1.2 million to CFI to strengthen leadership development and capacity building globally.

Press Release

<strong>WASHINGTON, DC, February, 12, 2019</strong> – The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) and the <a href="https://www.citigroup.com/citi/foundation/">Citi Foundation</a> announced a new partnership to strengthen financial institutions specializing in reaching underserved communities in emerging markets. The Citi Foundation is providing $1.2 million in funding to support the three-year initiative.

“Our partnership with the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion will help develop and strengthen the next generation of financial inclusion leaders who in turn will accelerate financial inclusion and economic progress for families and communities across the world,” said Florencia Spangaro, Director of Programs, Citi Foundation.

Through peer-to-peer learning and executive education programs, CFI builds organizational and human capacity around the globe to deepen and sustain financial inclusion. Its programs include the <a href="/about/what-we-do/hbs-accion-program-on-strategic-leadership-in-inclusive-finance/">Harvard Business School (HBS)-Accion Program in Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance</a> (SLIF), an intensive week-long course providing management and leadership training to those shaping the microfinance industry; and the <a href="/about/what-we-do/africa-board-fellowship-program/">Africa Board Fellowship Program</a> (ABF), a governance focused six-month peer learning and exchange program for board members and executives of African financial institutions serving low-income clients. Citi Foundation funding will support both programs, supporting scholarships for HBS-Accion SLIF participants who demonstrate financial need and supporting the optimization and expansion of ABF.

“We are grateful to the Citi Foundation for recognizing the importance of investing in leaders who are working on-the-ground toward financial inclusion,” said <a href="/bio/deborah-drake">Deborah Drake</a>, Vice President, CFI, and head of the governance portfolio. “ABF and HBS-Accion SLIF alumni gain useful skills and knowledge, particularly around governance issues, as well as new relationships and strong networks that they can use immediately and draw on over time.”
<p style="text-align: left">Additionally, the Citi Foundation’s support will contribute to the launch of a new global executive education program to help C-suite leaders and board members of financial institutions effectively and sustainably serve underserved communities. Arriving in fall 2019, with seminars in Asia and Africa, this new program will focus on governance, risk management, growth, client centricity and other mission-critical issues.</p>

<p style="text-align: center"><strong>### </strong>

<strong>About the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion</strong>
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) is an action-oriented think tank that engages and challenges the industry to better serve, protect, and empower clients. We develop insights, advocate on behalf of clients, and collaborate with stakeholders to achieve a comprehensive vision for financial inclusion. We are dedicated to enabling 3 billion people who are left out of – or poorly served by – the financial sector to improve their lives.
<a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org">www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/CFI_Accion">@CFI_Accion</a>

<strong>About the Citi Foundation </strong>
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant cities. The Citi Foundation's "More than Philanthropy" approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. For more information, visit <a href="https://www.citigroup.com/citi/foundation/">www.citifoundation.com</a>.

<p style="text-align: center"><strong>### </strong>

MEDIA CONTACT

Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion
<a href="/bio/virginia-moore">Virginia Moore</a>
vmoore@accion.org
+1 202.393.5113

The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion and the Citi Foundation Announce Partnership to Strengthen and Expand Executive Leadership in the Financial Inclusion Sector

New technology is delivering considerable benefits to the financial inclusion market – but is also creating new risks that service providers need to manage if they are to succeed. This is the main conclusion of a new survey of the risks (or Banana Skins) in the provision of financial services to people in emerging markets who have little or no access to these services.

Technology Risk Is High in Financial Inclusion Market

<strong>Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2018)</strong> — The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), with support of MetLife Foundation, released a report that examines how new types of data and new data tools present an unprecedented opportunity for financial service providers to understand and serve clients—particularly credit-seeking "thin-file" clients who are otherwise excluded from the formal financial sector

New Report: Banks Increasingly Embrace Data to Reach Underserved Customers

<strong>New York, NY (February 26, 2018) </strong>— MetLife Foundation provides $5.4 million to Accion for programs in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia to leverage digital solutions to enhance underserved customers' financial capabilities and engagement.

Accion and MetLife Foundation Announce Expanded Partnership to Advance Financial Inclusion

<strong>Washington, D.C. (January 8, 2018) </strong>— The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), with the support of MetLife Foundation, today released a new report detailing the factors spurring inclusive insurance around the world. It reveals how both traditional and new insurers are breaking open new markets and reaching underserved customers through the use of innovative technologies, business models, product design, and partnerships, enabled by effective regulatory environments.

Insurers Leverage New Technologies and Reinvent Business Models to Reach Underserved Consumers, Report Finds

Press Releases

Jacqueline Foelster

Research shows how small business owners hone their financial capability as they build job skills.

Blog Post

As I walked through Alaba International and Idumota markets on a recent trip to Lagos, I was in awe of the bustling scene. Not even the rainy season’s torrential downpours could silence the Afrobeat music thumping in the background as buyers and sellers jockeyed for a better deal. Alaba International and Idumota markets reign supreme in Lagos, offering all the goods one can imagine. Alaba International, on the southeastern edge of the city, bursts at the seams with satellite dishes imported from China, secondhand PlayStations shipped in from the UK, and other electronics. Idumota buzzes on Lagos Island, just south of the city center, and is a shopper’s delight replete with wax print hauled over from Ghana, locally produced Nollywood movies, and so much more.

Amidst the action in the markets, I interviewed 22 small business owners who are clients of <a href="https://www.accionmfb.com/">Accion Microfinance Bank</a> (AMfB) to learn more about their financial health and capability. This research will guide us as we develop a framework to help micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) better understand and achieve financial health. The framework is part of a project we’re undertaking with the support of the <a href="https://www.mastercardcenter.org/">Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth</a> to increase the <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/what-financial-health-means-for-small-business-owners">financial health and resilience of individuals and businesses</a> around the globe.

Through my conversations with business owners, I learned about what owners viewed as determinants of their success. We hypothesized that MSME financial health rests on three pillars — earning a profit, having access to capital to seize opportunities, and being resilient to economic shocks. The interviews suggest that our framework is on the right track. For instance, limited and slow access to working capital was commonly cited as a barrier to taking advantage of fleeting business opportunities. We also learned that resilience is not as much about cash-on-hand as it is about being able to quickly shift to other income-generating activities to fill an immediate need.

But arguably, the most eye-opening thing I learned from these interviews had to do with financial capability and the path to entrepreneurship, specifically how owners were able to get the know-how and capital to start their businesses. I had assumed that a commercial bank or <a href="http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol17-issue6/Version-2/J017626267.pdf"><em>esusu</em></a> — a rotating savings and credit association common in Nigeria — were the first two places that a budding entrepreneur would turn to raise seed funding. However, nearly all the merchants and traders I spoke with started their business with a lump sum they earned after spending several years as apprentices in their trade. This practice is part of the centuries-old Igbo apprenticeship model, <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c77a/7e79ec3fb7ce5c9eccdc72d181205251dfb2.pdf"><em>Imu-Ahia</em></a>.

The roots of Imu-Ahia date back to the European colonial era when the Igbo ethnic group native to southeastern Nigeria started to gain a reputation as highly-skilled traders and merchants. Today, the apprenticeship model has been widely adopted across the country. Most apprentices-to-be meet their “boss” — someone who is already well-established in a trade — through a family member or close contact. Reasons abound for why one might become an apprentice. Several entrepreneurs I spoke with decided at a young age that they wanted to be masters of a trade, so becoming an apprentice was always part of their plan. Others became an apprentice as a last resort, often after financial constraints forced them to put off academic or other pursuits.

During their tenure, which can range anywhere between three and seven years, apprentices observe and take notes on the tricks of the trade. They are assigned a variety of responsibilities, and eventually, they’re charged with promoting sales and store management. Although most apprentices aren’t paid, they are afforded accommodation, transportation costs, food, and clothing. Once the agreement — which can be either informal or formal — has been fulfilled, the newly anointed entrepreneurs are provided a lump sum to help them start their shop. One interviewee — a vendor of computer and phone accessories — was compensated with N800,000, the equivalent of approximately US$2,200, after spending five years as an apprentice. This is a decent payout considering he currently spends N350,000 (US $970) a year to rent his shop.

So what exactly does <em>Imu-Ahia</em> tell us about how these entrepreneurs perceive the determinants of their success? Many interviewees captured it perfectly when they shared advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: one must meticulously study and practice the skills needed to run a business before diving into it.

This advice resonates with our team at CFI because it positions financial capability — the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions — as <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/four-reasons-focusing-on-financial-capability-is-good-business">an essential contributor to business success</a>. The apprenticeship model serves as a learning and testing ground for those who are set on eventually running their own shop, much in the same way that the modern-day business incubator serves as a testing ground for startups. By the time individuals “graduate” from the apprenticeship model, they will have developed the knowledge and skills to manage business revenues and expenses. They also have plans to take advantage of investment opportunities and experience observing how businesses respond to the ups and downs of the market.

I only interviewed former apprentices who found success in the business world, so there’s still more to learn. We need to do more to understand the relationship between financial capability and business outcomes, especially business failures. Nevertheless, these qualitative findings echo the findings of other research. The <a href="https://www.nber.org/chapters/c8222.pdf">National Bureau of Economic Research</a> conducted a fascinating study that showed the differences in the psychological profile of wage workers, own-account workers, and small and medium enterprise (SME) owners. It found that “ability, motivation, and a competitive attitude are very important in differentiating SME and microenterprise owners.” The World Bank launched a project to measure <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/884291527663849364/pdf/126687-18-6-2018-9-32-12-InvestigatingSMEFinancialCapabilitiesFINALWEB.pdf">financial capability of SMEs</a>. Their analysis showed a positive correlation between financial capability and a firm’s size and level of sales.

The striking thing about what we learned in Lagos is not so much that financial capability contributes to business success, it is how, in the Nigerian system such capability is learned: over a period of years, through experience, and under the watchful eye of a knowledgeable mentor.

Keep reading the <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/blog">CFI Blog</a>, where we’ll share future findings as we conduct surveys around the world on MSME financial health!

What an Apprenticeship System May Reveal About the Financial Health of Small Business Owners in Nigeria

Isabelle Carboni

<p>Given the growing policy objectives of governments to go cashless, indicators that can measure the scale and nature of current non-digital payments and track the progress in digitization matter. Measuring frequency of usage and the main digital use cases may be the simplest way to do this.</p>
<h2>Frequency as a Reflection of Functional Usage</h2>
<p>We wanted to test if the frequency of sending or receiving payments digitally was a useful indicator of digital financial inclusion. If a person transacted at least weekly in this way, can we assume that this channel is used as a reliable, convenient and affordable way to transfer value?</p>
<p>We tested this question using transactional data from the <a href="https://nibss-plc.com.ng/">Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System</a>&#8216;s (NIBSS) instant payment platform, NIP, and segmented consumers into weekly, monthly, less frequent and dormant users (see graph below). In this sample, 68 percent used the platform at least once a month, with 26 percent using it at least once a week. This low-cost system is linked to an account and can be accessed using USSD (a protocol that MNOs use to send automated reply messages back to users), mobile app or online.</p>


<p>From the demand-side survey data we learned that 45 percent of the respondents in Lagos and Kano were small businesses providing goods or services. They received more than half of their income daily, and they received it in cash (80 percent in Lagos and 96 percent in Kano). For population groupings that transact on a daily basis, measuring account activity once in 90 days (often used as a cutoff to define an account as active) misses the scale of their financial need to transfer value. To measure the outcome of financial service usage and digitization efforts, frequency can provide a more useful view.</p>
<h2>Frequency for Digital Payments Use Cases</h2>
<p>Frequency can also provide insight into the main use cases for digital financial services. From the demand-side survey data in Nigeria we observed that airtime and person-to-person transfers were by far the main uses. If people could also buy groceries or pay for transport using NIP or similar digital financial services, could this lead to a more cashless society? Unfortunately, the transactional data we had was not clearly tagged by type, so it was difficult to accurately identify the main use cases.</p>
<p>If we want to measure and understand the progress of digitization for payments, it is most useful to understand the use cases and the frequency of payments within these use cases. Where digital transactions are tagged correctly and consistently, this becomes much easier to do, but it is something not yet done, except for merchant codes for POS (though these could also be improved). The potential for better understanding their own customers may prove to be an incentive for financial service providers to improve the tagging of transactional data. Regulatory bodies may also have a role in requiring this.</p>
<h2>Seeing Beyond Traditional Measures</h2>
<p>As the financial inclusion sector matures and as some countries move closer to their <a href="https://www.afi-global.org/maya-declaration">Maya Declaration</a> targets on financial inclusion, our thinking on how we measure success needs to evolve. Measuring account ownership and dormancy rates are still useful, but we need to complement this with more nuanced measures that can tell us about financial service usage and whether the service meets people’s financial needs. Using transactional data to measure the frequency of usage is one useful proxy indicator.</p>
<blockquote><p>Transactional data to measure frequency of usage is a useful proxy indicator of financial service usage and whether the service meets people&#8217;s financial needs.</p></blockquote>
<p>Understanding the use cases that are digitizing fastest is another. But until financial services actually meet needs, people will continue to transact offline. And that means looking beyond formal accounts to better understand customers’ broader financial lives.</p>
<p>For more information, read our <a href="https://i2ifacility.org/insights/publications/advancing-financial-inclusion-executive-summary-nigeria-pilot-study?entity=blog">Nigeria report</a> and more about our Mexico pilot <a href="https://i2ifacility.org/insights/blog/mexican-customers-want-their-financial-service-providers-to-offer-convenience-flexibility-and-a-sense-of-belonging?entity=blog">here</a> (the forthcoming report will be published in partnership with La Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores [CNBV]).</p>


Analyzing frequency of usage gives insight2impact an indication of how populations are (or aren’t) switching to digital channels for transacting.

What counts as financial inclusion? Reporting the number of active accounts in a country is a common way to measure progress in financial inclusion. But as access to, and uptake of, accounts increases, we need more powerful indicators to help us understand the dynamics of how people use financial services, and digital financial services in particular.

At <a href="https://i2ifacility.org/">insight2impact</a>, we’ve spent the last four years exploring these questions and have tested our measurement frameworks and emergent indicators on both demand-side survey data and transactional data in Mexico and Nigeria. We also went further by linking the data sets for the same person to analyze a more complete picture of people’s financial lives, both within and outside of formal financial services. What we found was both curious and transformative for our thinking on how we measure financial inclusion.
<h2>Frequency as a Means to Track Digitization</h2>
The first step to financial inclusion is <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/overview">having access to a transactional account</a>. If I choose to take up an account, I’m able to store money or send and receive payments, but if I use my account very rarely, am I still financially included? Maybe I receive a payment and immediately withdraw it all at an ATM. What if all the transactions I need to do can only be done in cash?

Analyzing frequency of usage gives us an indication of how populations are (or aren’t) switching to digital channels for transacting. We analyzed bank transaction data in Mexico to better understand financial service usage patterns. Debit-card usage by customers was relatively high, with 78 percent using their cards weekly, but 60 percent of monthly card usage occurred at ATMs to withdraw cash, not for purchases via POS or online. The frequency of ATM vs non-ATM card usage paints a more realistic picture of digitization in Mexico. It’s a picture of incomplete digitization, with cash remaining central for most people.

Secondly, we linked the transaction data to survey responses to compare people’s online vs offline transaction behavior. This revealed that most people still use cash for their regular expenses, even if they have a bank account. The graph below shows both banked and unbanked people’s cash usage for regular expenses such as rent and bills, and daily expenses such as groceries and transport. Cash was ubiquitous, regardless of gender, socio-economic segment or account ownership. By only counting the accounts, we would miss the scale of non-digital financial lives.

Counting More than Accounts: What Can Frequency of Transactions Tell Us About Financial Inclusion?

Alex Counts

The CFI Advisory Council member summarizes Anand Giridharadas’s key points and reflects on his non-profit leadership experience. 

Anand Giridharadas’s book <em>Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World</em> has shaken up the philanthropy world this year; everyone is talking about his critique. I promised myself I would approach it with an open mind, but with its caustic title and subtitle, I figured I would be in constant rebuttal mode as I worked my way through it. However, <em>Winners Take All</em> was considerably more balanced and nuanced than I had expected. Despite some gaps and omissions that I will explore below, the author made some very important points that those of us in the philanthropy world need to come to grips with. To wit:
<ul>
 	<li>By adopting the language and mental models of business – e.g., optimization, profit as a proxy for effectiveness, quickly distilling “actionable” (and often relatively easy) steps to be taken when confronting a societal problem, and measuring everything – we have impoverished our ability to think about, talk about, and respond to societal problems.</li>
 	<li>Too often, those of us in the philanthropy world who are in a position to speak truth to power opt to play it safe by self-censoring (or “pulling our punches”). In other words, we sanitize how we describe societal problems, what and who caused them, and the best ways to solve them – in part to ensure that our organizations are funded and that we get invited back to the elite gatherings of the “do good” world. To take one example, we speak much more about growing economic opportunity, catalyzing entrepreneurship, and reducing poverty than about the alarming and accelerating increase in inequality.</li>
 	<li>This self-censorship causes us to avoid assigning blame to those people and institutions that play a role causing the problems all around us, or saying much of anything that would make the wealthy feel uncomfortable, much less culpable. We talk much more about so-called “win-win” strategies while neglecting trade-offs; we applaud clever solutions while sidelining difficult discussions of root causes and bad actors. If a solution doesn’t allow for elite “impact investors” to earn financial returns while doing good, it is somehow suspect.</li>
 	<li>Many very wealthy donors – convinced by their success in business that they know best how to solve society’s problems (despite having contributed to creating those problems in some cases) – have some problematic tendencies. For example, they regularly create their own philanthropic operating arms and think tanks that reflect their own biases and worldviews, leading to duplication of capacity and fragmentation. As a result, they often neglect to learn from and support experienced organizations with deep and longstanding ties to communities being impacted by major societal problems.</li>
 	<li>People who care about global issues often do so from a safe distance and don’t engage nearly enough with true experts, credible grassroots organizations, and impacted people. They would benefit not only from doing more of those three things, but also from getting involved as active volunteers, donors, and citizens in their local communities – engagement that could better ground their thinking and action and also serve as an important reality check for them.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Reflections of a Non-Profit Leader and Citizen</h2>
As I read the book, I reflected on my own experience as a nonprofit leader and citizen. In retrospect, there were times that I <em>did</em> pull my punches and avoid certain sensitive topics. At other times, I was willing to be a lonely voice speaking uncomfortable perspectives. One example of the latter was writing <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/what-impact-investors-could-learn-from-microfinance">a blog post</a> about how the impact investing community should learn from the experience of the microfinance movement by, for example, more clearly acknowledging trade-offs between profit and social impact.

While Giridharadas tends to put people in either the “elite-friendly” or “speak truth to power” camps, my own experience – as well as those of the organizations and coalitions I have been part of – is much more complex. In failing to fully acknowledge this complexity, the author runs aground at times. He singles out the Clinton Global Initiative held in 2016 for criticism, some of which is deserved, but he fails to note that people such as Paul Farmer, not someone normally associated with punch pulling, spoke there with great passion and eloquence (which I <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexCounts/status/778614631334109184">tweeted</a> about at the time).

To take another example, some deep pocketed donors must be backing prominent activist (i.e., truth-speaking) organizations such as Greenpeace, Partners in Health, and Action Aid (to name a few). Yet the author spends little time exploring who those people are, what motivates them, and how they could be models for others whose natural tendency is towards incremental, win/win, overly clever, and reformist approaches.

Let’s take the microfinance movement as a case study. There are ample grounds to criticize it based in Giridharadas’ analysis. For example, global banks and financial institutions were rarely rebuked or even mildly challenged by name by microfinance supporters about their roles in financial exclusion or recent financial crises.

On the other hand, microfinance icon <a href="https://www.muhammadyunus.org/">Muhammad Yunus</a> has forcefully argued before all manner of convenings that the policies and practices of traditional banks has led to “financial apartheid” and that his own strategy in designing Grameen Bank was to observe how banks operated and then<em> do exactly the opposite</em>. Yunus has also called for making credit a human right and for rethinking the fundamentals of capitalism, which he says is in crisis in part due to growing inequality – which he rightly calls out as dangerous and unacceptable. The <a href="https://grameenfoundation.org/blog/microcredit-summit-campaign-legacy-impact-shoestring#.XVRCsVApBTY">Microcredit Summit Campaign</a> routinely amplified Yunus’s messages during its two decades as the largest and most inclusive forum for microfinance professionals, regulators, researchers, and activists.

Other microfinance leaders are usually more circumspect, but they have often made the point that their grassroots financial institutions survived recent financial crises better than more traditional banks due to their more realistic, more humane, and better-grounded underwriting policies. These are indirect but still powerful critiques of the status quo.

The book’s concluding recommendations are a mixed bag. The author argues strongly and effectively for systems change rather than nibbling around the edges of today’s big problems. He advocates for a democratic process leading to robust government regulation of wrongdoing companies through the messy and win/lose dynamic that politics often represents. In terms of a path forward, however, that’s about it.

Oddly, much of the book’s closing argument is articulated in the epilogue by Chiara Cordelli, an Italian political philosopher based at the University of Chicago, rather than by the author himself. Her judgements include this one: even people working hard (as volunteers or as professional staff) on innovative solutions to – or on alleviating the symptoms of – societal problems are still complicit with those problems unless they actively and contemporaneously work on “root causes” and “systems change” through the political system. I did not find this convincing, and regardless, I would have preferred it if Giridharadas had the final word.
<h2>An Agenda for Improving Philanthropy</h2>
While the case for more and better government action to address root causes is defensible and to some degree unarguable, it is woefully incomplete and in the short term, probably unrealistic. His singular focus on this response may limit his influence, and was unnecessary. Indeed, throughout the book, many solutions that are incremental and (yes) “actionable” are hinted at but are never fully explored. Taken together, I believe that they represent the core of a potent agenda for improving philanthropy. Five examples:
<ol>
 	<li>Taking a page from an underappreciated aspect of an earlier generation of philanthropists including John D. Rockefeller, billionaires should set philanthropy priorities but then delegate most grant-making decisions to a diverse group of technocrats and activists with relevant expertise.</li>
 	<li>Individual and institutional donors should give more support to groups with hard-earned expertise in attacking societal problems and with credibility among impacted populations. This should include these organizations’ advocacy work that is informed by their service delivery efforts. There should be less fad-driven funding of clever approaches dreamed up in Silicon Valley, and more risk-taking and delegation of priorities to credible organizations.</li>
 	<li>Similarly, more funding should go towards providing endowments for – and amplifying the messages of – true “public intellectuals” who feel no constraints when explaining the root causes of key societal problems, describing tradeoffs, and naming those who are worsening problems due to their inattention, wishful thinking, or excessive profiteering.</li>
 	<li>Philanthropy conferences and forums should include many more dissonant and activist voices on stage and in conference planning and more debates with multiple sides of key issues presented in civil but forceful ways that at times will make the elites in audience squirm. Especially in the major philanthropy conferences, set aside time to acknowledge trade-offs in areas where win-win solutions may not exist. Publish key themes from these private, invitation-only gatherings in order to solicit public comment which organizers can respond to in a variety of ways, including in how they plan future sessions.</li>
 	<li>Encourage more “globalists” – whether they be donors, thought leaders, conference planners or grant-seekers – to get involved in their local communities as engaged volunteers and citizens. Let their insights from those experiences inform their thinking and action in the public sphere. (For Americans wondering where to start, let me suggest the highly substantive, challenging and rewarding <a href="https://casaforchildren.org/">Court Appointed Special Advocate</a> program, as it has enriched and balanced my lifelong engagement in global social justice issues.)</li>
</ol>
Anand Giridharadas has, with his new book, made a forceful and often unexpectedly balanced contribution to the debates about philanthropy, impact investing, the privatization of societal problem solving, and the pitfalls of thought leadership. His central call to action for bringing about transformative change, while valid, strikes me as incomplete and perhaps unrealistic for the foreseeable future.

I wish he had given more thought to some of the powerful intermediate steps that can be taken in the direction of sparking a more realistic societal conversation about private philanthropy and the public good. Perhaps, if taken, they could even pave the way for some of the more profound changes that he believes are desperately needed.

Alex Counts: “Winners Take All” Is Forceful and Unexpectedly Balanced, but Lacking

Nika Naghavi

"Payments as a platform" will also aid in empowering millions in the region to maximize income generation opportunities, according to the GSMA.  
 

As recently as 2011, more than <a href="https://globalfindex.worldbank.org/">2.5 billion adults globally</a> did not have a formal financial account. Since then, an astonishing 1.2 billion adults have obtained an account with a bank or mobile money service, representing great strides in escaping poverty and boosting prosperity. Progress has been most notable in <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/GSMA-Sub-Saharan-Africa-SOTIR-presentation.pdf">Sub-Saharan Africa</a>, where account ownership increased from 23 percent in 2011 to 43 percent in 2017. This great achievement can be attributed in large part to the incredible growth of mobile money.

Mobile money has emerged as the mainstay of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the latest <a href="https://globalfindex.worldbank.org/">Findex</a> report, the share of adults with a financial institution account (excluding mobile money) across Sub-Saharan Africa has risen by a modest four percentage points between 2014 and 2017, while the share with a mobile money account has grown twice as fast, increasing by nine percentage points. With 21 percent of adults in the region having a mobile money account, Sub-Saharan Africa is the global leader in the use of mobile money. This finding is confirmed by the GSMA’s own <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilemoneymetrics/">supply-side data on mobile money</a>, which shows that Sub-Saharan Africa <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/africa/sub-saharan-africa-the-enduring-epicentre-of-mobile-money-part-1/">remains the epicenter</a> of mobile money.

What has underpinned this success? Regulation calibrated to enable low-cost services for the financially excluded has been crucial. In fact, we’ve found a clear correlation between countries in the region with high mobile money adoption rates and those with <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programme/mobile-money/introducing-the-mobile-money-regulatory-index-an-interactive-tool-to-measure-the-effectiveness-of-mobile-money-regulatory-frameworks/">more enabling regulatory environments</a>. Industry leaders in these markets adopted a myriad of strategies to drive adoption of mobile money services, but the successful strategies shared some fundamental business characteristics. The most foundational characteristic was investment in building a robust agent distribution network – a powerful model for extending the reach of financial services – which both disrupts and complements traditional “brick and mortar” banking. Mobile money agents across the region are more prevalent than any other channel, with approximately 60 agent outlets per 1,000 sq km, compared to only one bank branch and two ATMs in the same space.
<blockquote>Regulation calibrated to enable low-cost services for the financially excluded has been crucial.</blockquote>
Remarkably, and contrary to predictions, there has been a shift away from using cash toward digital payments. Across the region, people are increasingly using mobile money in diverse ways, extending beyond basic use cases such as person-to-person (P2P) transactions and airtime top ups. Today, millions of consumers are using mobile money in their daily activities: paying for children’s school fees, accessing loans to invest in their farming activities, saving for the financial future of their household, and mitigating financial risks and shocks. Innovative partnerships between mobile network operators and banks, MTOs, governments, and businesses have played a key role in digitizing payments and formalizing the economy across the region. Orange, for instance, has established partnerships with governments to offer a range of person-to-government (P2G) payments via mobile money across <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/resources/championing-a-unified-digital-person-to-government-p2g-payments-strategy-lessons-from-orange-p2g-payments-in-africa/">five of its operations</a> in West and Central Africa (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and DRC). Another example is the partnership between PayPal and Safaricom, enabling users in Kenya to securely transfer funds between PayPal and M-Pesa.

Despite this progress, there is still a sizeable opportunity to further digitize the economy to drive efficiency and transparency, and to convert informal cash and non-financial assets into the formal financial system. This is where the shift towards a “<a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Embracing-payments-as-a-platform-for-the-future-of-mobile-money.pdf">payments as a platform</a>” business model will have a demonstrable impact, not only in growing the ecosystem and incorporating more partners into the mobile money platform, but also in terms of deepening engagements with individuals and businesses. Industry-wide initiatives will also play a central role in driving the digitization of more complex use cases such as merchant payments and international remittances. <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/uncategorized/unlocking-mobile-money-interoperability-and-merchant-payments-across-africa-through-mowali/">Mowali</a>, a joint venture between Orange Group and MTN Group to enable interoperable payments across the African continent, is a great example of industry collaboration enabling customers to seamlessly transact across borders.
<h2>Challenges Ahead</h2>
Sub-Saharan Africa has come a long way in the past decade, but there are still strides to be made in certain markers, and across the wider African continent. Africa’s three most populated countries, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt – home to a combined adult population of over 242 million – have low rates of financial inclusion (below 40 percent) and limited availability of mobile money services. All three markets have had unfavorable conditions for mobile money uptake. We anticipate that recent reforms in these markets could spark a wave of adoption with the potential to unlock over 110 million new mobile money accounts in the next five years, offering a financial future to millions of previously financially excluded people.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a major role in economic development across the region. According to the IFC, MSMEs account for roughly <a href="https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/2c6289c3-df5e-4f90-b910-2a04e1000922/IFC+SME+Ventures+Final+low+res+30+Nov+2018.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&amp;CVID=mtQwg2S">90 percent of all businesses</a> across Sub-Saharan Africa, and contribute to 78 percent of the region’s employment. Despite this, financial institutions are not currently meeting the majority of MSMEs’ financial needs across the region. We see a huge opportunity for mobile money providers to bridge this gap and offer solutions that can help MSMEs with day-to-day management of their business and financing needs.
<blockquote>Mobile money providers can offer solutions to help MSMEs with day-to-day management of business and financing needs.</blockquote>
Over the course of the next decade, a dramatic rise in mobile internet usage and smartphone adoption is expected in Sub-Saharan Africa. This growth, alongside the shift to “payments as a platform” model, will empower millions of young entrepreneurs, innovators and small businesses to maximize new income generation opportunities and gain new skills. Increased access to financial services is a cornerstone of prosperity, and the future for financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa holds much promise.

<em>Learn more by checking out GSMA's <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/GSMA-Sub-Saharan-Africa-SOTIR-presentation.pdf">State of the Mobile Money Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa</a> presentation.</em>

Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Money: Diverse Use Cases, Enabling Environment Boost Adoption

Eric Noggle

<p>CFI has put forward the proposition that financial health is the goal of financial inclusion. Fundamentally, financial tools exist to help people manage mismatches between their income and expenses over time and space and build lumps sums of cash. The ability to do those things is financial health. The financial health concept is also resonating with financial service providers (FSPs) globally. It’s viewed simultaneously as a useful lens for understanding customer behavior and an easy way for providers to communicate to customers that they’re more than just an account number. Financial health, thus, seems like a natural goal to guide the industry.</p>
<p>However, as this CGAP <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/whats-financial-health-got-do-it">blog post</a> notes, it’s unclear where financial health sits in the industry’s theory of change. Is it an intermediate outcome or the ultimate one? It’s also proving difficult to define and measure, especially across different geographic and socio-economic contexts. With those concerns in mind, is this concept enough to guide us?</p>


<p>Financial inclusion, financial services, and microfinance are explicitly mentioned in the targets of seven of the 17 <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. Their presence implies that financial services are a means to improve quality of life and suggests that creating financial stability should not be the only goal of financial inclusion.</p>
<p>The implications of sustainable development as the financial inclusion sector’s proverbial North Star are significant. It would require our focus on some of the world’s most intractable problems, like climate resilience and access to safe drinking water. It would challenge us to work even harder to reach the most vulnerable, reinvigorating efforts to include the ultra-poor and women in conversations about promoting small businesses and employment.</p>
<p>That could be a tall order for providers, even those focused on social impact. Serving the most vulnerable or niche markets is costly, which makes private investment riskier and less profitable. In that environment, what is the role of investors (impact-oriented and otherwise) and donor organizations? Is the financial inclusion industry, an industry which has increasingly aligned itself with the private sector and traditional finance over the years, prepared to adopt a new and broader mandate like this?</p>


<p>If financial inclusion is a means to an end, maybe we should focus less on the ends and more on ensuring the means are fair. Doing so would be no small feat when “inclusion” is granted to people who can be served profitably, and of the included, the people with the least are either scrutinized or put at the greatest risk compared to the people with the most. Should striving for equity – fair access, fair use, and fair treatment for customers – be where we focus our efforts?</p>
<blockquote><p>A focus on equity could be a driving force for collaboration.</p></blockquote>
<p>A focus on equity could be a driving force for collaboration. Policymakers, regulators, and providers would need to work together to understand the opportunities and challenges for diverse market segments and formulate strategies to serve them. Efforts like the <a href="https://www.smartcampaign.org/">Smart Campaign’s</a> client protection principles and digital credit standards or the <a href="https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/mobile-money/certification/">GSMA Mobile Money Certification</a> would serve as important guideposts to ensure customers are protected. And providers may even find that a <a href="https://hbr.org/2012/09/finding-the-profit-in-fairness">focus on fairness</a> helps drive customer activity.</p>


<p>Maybe these objectives are too difficult to define and measure; too difficult to achieve consensus on; or unreasonable given the nature of financial services. Maybe we should focus on what businesses do best: achieving a positive bottom line.</p>
<blockquote><p>This may sound cynical or like an endorsement of unfettered capitalism. It’s neither.</p></blockquote>
<p>This may sound cynical or like an endorsement of unfettered capitalism. It’s neither. Rather, it’s a recognition that successful businesses that are also good-faith actors deliver value to clients, as demonstrated by their success. As costs are driven down, the infrastructure to enable access will expand, demand for formal financial tools will increase, and businesses will spring into existence. With this as a guiding vision, the industry would focus on martialing capital to finance innovative ideas, nurturing their development, and aggressively scaling their successes.</p>


<p>We’re excited to have you join us during the week of October 21, 2019, as we debate these and other objectives for the industry. We’re anticipating unique perspectives from stakeholders across the financial inclusion spectrum– banks, traditional microfinance institutions, fintechs, regulators, investors, donors, non-profits, and others. Please feel free to <a href="mailto:tjohnson@accion.org">reach out to us</a> with any questions; <a href="https://centerforfinancialinclusion.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=394352ae963270aef6c51680d&amp;id=72f6a9abbe">sign up</a> to receive updates and announcements; and follow #Finclusionweek on social media.</p>


Learn More

Why we chose the 2019 theme "Financial Inclusion: For What?" and its four guiding answers

This year’s Financial Inclusion Week is a chance for our industry to reflect on the purpose and impacts of our work as an industry. At CFI, we're observing trends that make us believe this an important time to reflect on these issues, which is why we’ve chosen the theme “Financial Inclusion: For What?”.

As we described throughout our <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/program_teams/mainstreaming-financial-inclusion">Mainstreaming Financial Inclusion</a> series, the digital revolution is fundamentally altering how traditional financial service providers and innovative fintechs interact with each other and how they recruit, onboard, serve, and retain customers. The potential opportunities are limitless, but the move to digital also exposes low-income households to new and poorly understood risks.

Simultaneously, the scope of the financial inclusion industry has widened dramatically. Attention and investment once given almost entirely to microcredit is now being shared with cash transfer, savings, and insurance services, and these products are being offered through increasingly dynamic platforms. When used well, the financial ecosystem can be staggeringly important, delivering digital payments to health workers combating Ebola, facilitating life-saving G2P and P2P cash transfers, or providing working capital to small businesses at critical moments. When it works less well, we read about Kenyans racking up unpaid gambling debts financed through mobile money-delivered nano loans.

Financial Inclusion Week is an opportunity to explore this dynamism while reflecting and refocusing our goals as an industry. Why are those of us in this space engaging in this important work? How do our goals inform our perspective on these and other trends? What does it mean if we’re working to different or competing aims? How should we think about success, and what is necessary to ensure we achieve it?
<blockquote>During Financial Inclusion Week events, four possible answers to the question “Financial Inclusion: For What?” will be in focus.</blockquote>
From October 21 to 25, 2019, CFI and partner institutions will be hosting digital and in-person events to explore these questions, and we invite you to <a href="http://financialinclusionweek.org/get-involved">join the conversation</a>. During Financial Inclusion Week events, four possible answers to the question “Financial Inclusion: For What?” will be in focus. We’ll ask leading voices in the industry to debate the merits of these questions and articulate why these objectives should or shouldn’t be the guiding light of the industry.

Financial Inclusion: For What?

Latest Blog Posts

Lizzy Bolze

ABF Fellows will convene in South Africa to close out the ninth cohort. 

Event

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<div class="sc-bwzfXH ejJzIl"><article class="jsx-1739195141 text-block__article">Africa Board Fellowship (ABF) program participants convene in Cape Town, South Africa, to close out the program’s 9th cohort.

The ABF seminars are an interactive combination of guided discussion and peer-to-peer exchange on governance best practices and risk-management strategies, with an emphasis on fellows sharing knowledge and experience.

World-class experts and leaders in microfinance and financial inclusion will facilitate and engage participants in active dialogues. The aim of the Africa Board Fellowship program is to connect board members and CEOs through peer learning and exchange to strengthen the governance of financial institutions serving low-income clients in sub-Saharan Africa.

Research has shown that the single biggest success factor in MFIs across the world is good governance. Program activities, structure, and content have been carefully designed to create an open atmosphere that allows for frank discussion among peers. Fellows identify their objectives for the program and then work with a program advisor on achieving those goals. Additionally, Fellows have access throughout the program to a participant-led virtual collaboration space with tools, resources, content, and access to subject-matter experts. At the conclusion of the program, Fellows stay connected as alumni, providing a network of leaders confronting similar challenges.

<a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/africa-board-fellowship-program/">Learn more</a> about the program.

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Africa Board Fellowship Closing Seminar – Cohort 9

About FIW

<p>Now in its 5th year, Financial Inclusion Week is an opportunity to strengthen the diverse community of players involved in building a more inclusive financial ecosystem.</p>
<p>The objectives of Financial Inclusion Week are:</p>
<ul>
<li>To bring the entire financial inclusion community together to explore issues of financial inclusion beyond access</li>
<li>To create leadership opportunities among diverse stakeholders</li>
<li>To create dialogue and community</li>
<li>To foster partnership and coordination within the financial industry</li>
</ul>


Get Involved

<h2>Why should we participate?</h2>
<p>Achieving financial inclusion is within our reach, but only if we work together to address the biggest gaps. When people come together to consider this question, they emerge with new insights, energy and focus. By serving as a FIW partner, you are playing a vital role as a leader in financial inclusion and helping to build a strong community, while focusing on the work of your organization.</p>
<h2>How do we participate?</h2>
<p>Financial Inclusion Week is easy to get involved with. Typically, organizations hold virtual or in-person events, write blogs or publish reports, engage their social media community—or all of the above. We also provide resources to help you <a href="http://financialinclusionweek.org/partner-toolkit">plan your participation in FIW</a>.</p>
<p>CFI will be coordinating and hosting activities during FIW and we invite the entire community to participate. We&#8217;ll publish and help to promote partners&#8217; activities as well. Keep an eye on the schedule on at <a href="http://financialinclusionweek.org/">financialinclusionweek.org</a> and<a href="http://eepurl.com/dDxzwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> sign up</a> to receive updates from the FIW team.</p>


From the Blog

Partners

CGAP's FinDev Gateway is a media partner for Financial Inclusion Week 2019.

This year, we are taking a step back as a community to revisit the fundamental purpose of our work, and ask ourselves the question: What is financial inclusion for?

This year, we are taking a step back as a community to revisit the fundamental purpose of our work, and ask ourselves what is financial inclusion for?

<h1>Financial Inclusion: For What?</h1>
This year, we are taking a step back as a community to revisit the fundamental purpose of our work.

As some organizations pursue financial inclusion as their ultimate goal, others are driving toward financial health or the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a>. Meanwhile, financial institutions and fintechs are aiming to profitably serve low-income markets.

In the face of these trends, we can’t help but ask: <strong>Financial Inclusion: For What</strong><b>?
</b>
<h3>Financial Inclusion: For What? is a call to action for our community <b>to reexamine our goals and renew efforts to achieve them</b>. During Financial Inclusion Week this year, October 21-25, 2019, we invite you to convene around this question to r<b>eexamine, redefine, and align our goals</b>.</h3>
<h2>Guiding Questions</h2>
<ul>
 	<li>What is the ultimate goal we are trying to achieve—financial health, sustainable development, equity, revenue generation? Or something else?</li>
 	<li>To what extent are our goals complementary or contradictory?</li>
 	<li>How do our efforts across the industry complement or counteract each other?</li>
 	<li>Do these goals align with what we aim to achieve as an industry?</li>
 	<li>How should we measure our success?</li>
</ul>

Financial Inclusion Week 2019

Boubacar Diallo

Join Smart Campaign's Boubacar Diallo for a talk about fueling fintechs with an enabling regulatory and investment environment during SAM 2019. 

Smart Campaign Senior Africa Advisor Boubacar Diallo will participate on a panel about fueling fintechs with enabling regulations and investment flows.

Fintech investment and growth are occurring in relatively limited areas and for a handful of high-profile companies. Enabling regulatory environments and well-informed investment flows are prerequisites to realizing the potential of fintech to achieve scale and impact. On October 23<sup>rd</sup>, as part of SAM 2019, <a href="/bio/boubacar-diallo">Boubacar Diallo</a>, Senior Africa Advisor, Smart Campaign, will present on a panel entitled <em>Fueling Fintech: Regulations and Investment for Scale and Impact</em>.

Key Questions
<ul>
 	<li>What examples do we have of successful legislation and investment environments to promote fintech development, and how can other markets replicate these successes to pave the way to more diverse and durable growth of digital financial services?</li>
 	<li>How can investors better evaluate investments with regard to the SDGs?</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://www.ada-microfinance.org/en/presentation-sam-2019">African Microfinance Week</a>/Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance (SAM 2019) is a biennial conference dedicated to the development of financial inclusion in Africa. The <a href="/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign/">Smart Campaign</a> will participate in this year’s conference, taking place October 21-25, 2019 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on the theme “Pathways Toward Impact: African Inclusive Finance for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

More details to come. Hope you can join us.

African Microfinance Week (SAM 2019)

Upcoming Events

Ezra Mannix

Hema Bansal

Consumers are being charged sky-high interest rates on easy credit, leading to desperation—or worse—according to the piece. 

News

Bansal, the <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign">Smart Campaign</a>'s Senior Director in South and Southeast Asia, notes that the problem over-indebtedness is more severe in the island country than elsewhere.

She also points out that the government's decision to write off business loans of up to 100,000 rupees falls short.

"One-off measures will not do, says Ms Bansal: Sri Lanka needs properly enforced rules that prevent over-indebtedness and ensure fair treatment of borrowers."

<strong>Read the <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2019/08/15/microfinance-is-driving-many-sri-lankan-borrowers-to-despair">full article</a> (soft paywall).</strong>

In The Economist: Hema Bansal on Over-Indebtedness in Sri Lanka

Isabelle Barrès

The CFI Vice President notes that Facebook's Libra presents an opportunity to answer key questions about protecting the underserved. 

Barres's questions that Libra's developers should consider when innovating for the new cryptocurrency are:
<ul>
 	<li>What would data privacy agreements look like if we wanted them to be understandable, fair and with an option to opt out?</li>
 	<li>How would algorithms that did not discriminate be set up?</li>
 	<li>How might fully transparent, low-cost and high-quality products and services that truly solve problems be brought to bear?</li>
</ul>
Read the <a href="https://www.euromoney.com/article/b1g0hvpnhqmyg0/cryptocurrency-facebook39s-libra-is-this-how-we-get-to-responsible-fintech">full article in Euromoney</a>.

In Euromoney: Smart Campaign's Isabelle Barres Poses Questions About Libra

Alexandra Rizzi

Rwandans trust mobile money services but are concerned about fraud, survey finds. 

The <a href="https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign/">Smart Campaign</a>'s senior director discussed the motivation behind the survey and forthcoming report with <a href="https://www.newtimes.co.rw/"><em>The New Times</em></a>, a leading Rwandan news provider.

“We want all stakeholders to understand the actual experiences and concerns of the clients they are serving, protecting or advocating for, because there hasn't been a comprehensive survey underpinning the conduct of this digital financial service before,” <a href="https://content.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/people/alexandra-rizzi/">Rizzi</a> said.

Fraud was a "major problem" for about 40 percent of respondents (with 10 percent falling victim themselves), and while nearly 90 percent trust mobile money services, that trust extends to specific services, namely person-to-person (P2P) transfers. There are approximately 11 million mobile money users in Rwanda.

The report will be available for download on this site in the coming weeks. The results were discussed at a workshop of regulators in the Rwandan capital Kigali in March and will be discussed at the <a href="https://sptf.info/annual-meetings/2019-summit-inclusive-digital-future">Inclusive Digital Future Summit</a> in Nairobi in June 2019.

Read the<a href="https://www.newtimes.co.rw/business/mobile-money-services-enjoy-public-confidence-fraud-remains-threat-survey-reveals"> full article</a> and learn more about the <a href="http://smartcampaign.org/tools-a-resources/1075">Client Voices Project</a>.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

In The New Times: Smart Campaign's Alex Rizzi Interviewed About Client Voices Project Survey in Rwanda

Tune In 

Elisabeth Rhyne

Rhyne discusses tech and touch, national identities and more in the latest episode of Institute of International Finance's podcast. 

This <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-273615244/frt-episode-28-digital-customer-journey">episode</a> of the "FRT" podcast focuses on how digital customer journeys are enabling financial institutions to reach underserved segments in a sustainable manner. IIF’s Conan French host Rhyne and Amin Khairy to discuss the upcoming CFI-IIF paper “Charting the Customer Journey in the Digital Age.”

Rhyne discusses the persistent challenges for digital inclusion and the importance of having a “tech-touch” balance at certain stages of the customer journey.

They also discuss the potential gain in operational efficiencies for financial institutions and the positive impact digitization has on unbanked customers and provide real-life examples of digital customer journeys in various stages: pre-onboarding, onboarding and continued use.

"We're finding that the countries that are making it easy to onboard are those with a good national ID program," Rhyne said. "Having a very clear and simple to use national ID that's easily connected electronically is probably the most important thing."

Rhyne also notes that understanding the unique financial lives of lower income segments is crucial to digitization and different from transitioning banked populations from analog to digital.

Browse more <a href="https://www.iif.com/Innovation/FRT-Podcast">FRT podcast episodes</a>.

&nbsp;

IIF Podcast Features Elisabeth Rhyne Discussing the Digital Customer Journey

The CFI Managing Director discusses differences between banking in developed and developing countries.

In the March 14 <a href="https://www.raconteur.net/finance/financial-inclusion-banked">piece</a>, Rhyne’s insights are part of a broad survey of the global financial inclusion landscape -- from barriers to financial inclusion in the developing world, to its benefits and the tools that are helping to integrate marginalized populations into the “financial mainstream.”
<p style="text-align: left;">“In the developing world there is an issue of absolute low incomes,” Rhyne said in the feature, which appeared in the <a href="https://www.raconteur.net/future-money-2019"><em>Future of Money</em></a>, a 20-page insert published in <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk">The Times (UK)</a> in association with <a href="https://europe.money2020.com/">Money 20/20</a>. “In regards to how much in deposits people would be providing, how large a credit they might want, these are below the threshold of feasibility for banks using traditional branch-based, teller-based models. So you couldn’t put a branch out in a rural area and expect it to be profitable.”</p>
Rhyne uses the example of hyperinflation in Latin America to illustrate why potential customers don't have bank accounts, and concludes the article by noting that digital payments “are going to be essential” over the next decade.

<a href="https://www.raconteur.net/">Raconteur</a> is a publisher of “special-interest content and research” whose special reports are inserted into the printed version of The Times (UK). Read the full article <a href="https://www.raconteur.net/finance/financial-inclusion-banked">here</a>.

Raconteur Features Elisabeth Rhyne in “Challenges in Banking the Unbanked”

CFI in the News

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