&gt; Posted by Center Staff

<a href="http://newsfeed.financialinclusion2020.org/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-18949" style="border: 1px solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/8-10-2015-e-zine.png" alt="" width="615" height="330" /></a>

The latest edition of the <a href="http://newsfeed.financialinclusion2020.org/">Financial Inclusion 2020 News Feed,</a> our weekly online magazine sharing the big news in banking the unbanked, is now available. Among the stories in this week’s edition are the release of a New America Foundation report on account dormancy in youth savings, Yemen exploring mobile banking to combat the hardships of war, and Cambodia launching its first agricultural insurance programs. Here are a few more details:
<ul>
 	<li>The New America report considers how to understand the challenge of youth account dormancy in large-scale account-based initiatives and policy efforts, describing the range of issues related to account engagement from the perspectives of financial institutions, policymakers, and account-holders.</li>
 	<li>Yemen, following its central bank passing regulation on e-money and mobile money in December, is looking to the development of digital finance to cover critical services during wartime, as 30 to 40 percent of bank branches are closed.</li>
 	<li>The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) has launched the country's first agricultural insurance programs, in the form of pilots for the next year and a half, protecting rice farmers against loss from drought and floods.</li>
</ul>
For more information on these and other stories, read the latest issue of the FI2020 News Feed <a href="http://newsfeed.financialinclusion2020.org/">here</a>, and make sure to subscribe to the weekly online magazine by entering your email address in the right-hand menu so you can be notified when the latest issue comes out.

Have you come across a story or initiative you think we should cover? Email your ideas to Eric Zuehlke at <a href="mailto:ezuehlke@accion.org">ezuehlke@accion.org</a>.

Youth Savings, E-Money in Yemen, Agricultural Insurance – the Latest FI2020 News Feed

&gt; Posted by Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Associate, CFI

[getty src="142765195?et=R5H1wf3HRzVY85zP-SHj7A&amp;socialOnLoad=off&amp;sig=MCzrHiaz1fbKeXXBgrpdooZt9BGrF3EX8HvxLFGuv-s=" width="506" height="339"]

Islamic finance is expected to expand substantially in 2015, from 2014’s total of <a href="http://www.brecorder.com/money-a-banking/198/1138766/">$2.1 trillion to $2.5 trillion</a>, according to figures released last week by the Al-Huda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics. In 2011, the industry had assets of about <a href="http://www.cgap.org/topics/islamic-products">$1 trillion</a>. Islamic microfinance, the segment of Sharia-compliant services targeting clients at the base of the pyramid, only occupies a small slice of the pie, at 1 percent of all Islamic finance globally. However this uptick in Sharia-compliant finance, as well as encouraging recent support for the 650 million Muslims living on less than 2 dollars a day, suggest a rising tide for Islamic microfinance.

The industry findings indicate that not only did Islamic finance surpass the $2 trillion landmark in 2014, it gained traction in nascent markets and entered new ones. Markets still green in offering Islamic finance that showed growth in 2014 include Morocco, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Libya, and several non-Muslim-majority countries including Nigeria, Tanzania, and South Africa. Among the new markets where Islamic finance took root last year are Australia, Brazil, and China. Globally, there are 1,500 organizations working in Islamic finance across 90 countries – 40 percent of which are non-Muslim-majority countries. The expansion of Islamic finance opens the door for the many Muslims whose beliefs preclude them from accepting finance with interest rates and fee structures outlawed by Sharia doctrine.

Islamic microfinance, which has typically grown slower than its mainstream microfinance counterpart, could be in for a big year. In 2013, Islamic microfinance had an estimated <a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/04/26/sharia-and-savings-islamic-microfinance/">1.28 million clients</a>, about 82 percent of whom lived in three countries – Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Sudan. (Nevertheless, the number of Islamic microfinance clients in Muslim-majority Bangladesh is dwarfed by the 8 million conventional microfinance borrowers in the country.) Along with the Al-Huda estimation of 19 percent growth in 2015 for all Islamic finance, a report by TechNavio from November found that the Islamic microfinance market would grow at a compound annual growth rate of about <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-islamic-microfinance-market-2014-2018-281593461.html">20 percent</a> between 2014 and 2018. The current Microfinance Market Outlook forecasts <a href="http://www.microfinancegateway.org/library/microfinance-market-outlook-2015">15-20 percent</a> growth for 2015.

Strong government support, <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-global-microscope">instrumental for financial inclusion efforts</a>, has been <a href="http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/islamic-banking-finance-set-to-reach-dh9-1trn-in-2015-2015-01-01-1.575128">demonstrated</a> for Islamic microfinance in countries including Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, Malaysia, and Pakistan. As part of its larger Financial Inclusion Program, the State Bank of Pakistan launched the partially U.K.-funded <a href="http://www.sbp.org.pk/AC&amp;MFD/events/FICF-Round-3-Guidelines.pdf">3rd Financial Innovation Challenge Fund</a>, which focuses on Islamic microfinance. Until the application deadline of February 20, 2015, the bank will accept proposals for grants to test solutions for delivering low cost Islamic microfinance services to more markets. One aim of the challenge is to develop Pakistan’s base of Islamic finance professionals.

GIZ, the German government’s international development agency, is <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/05/islam-microfinance-idUSL6N0SH04020141105">working with CGAP and others</a> to develop model regulations, education, and trainings to expand Islamic microfinance in developing countries. A current GIZ study is exploring demand factors, while another is comparing Islamic finance regulations in five countries. A study by GIZ and CGAP on Islamic microfinance aims to find ways to lower costs – a key obstacle for product adoption. Difficulties in adapting traditional microfinance products to Islamic microfinance have limited product offerings, with the <a href="http://www.cgap.org/news/innovation-islamic-microfinance">most popular</a> being murabaha, a cost-plus-markup product for asset purchases. Last year’s CGAP <a href="http://www.cgap.org/news/pakistan%E2%80%99s-wasil-foundation-wins-islamic-microfinance-challenge">Islamic Microfinance Challenge</a>, a global contest to identify innovative Sharia-compliant products, was themed “Beyond Murabaha.”

We look forward to following the developments in Islamic microfinance throughout the year.

Have you read?

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/04/26/sharia-and-savings-islamic-microfinance/">Sharia and Savings: Islamic Microfinance</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/01/15/continuing-the-conversation-on-inclusion-in-the-arab-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Continuing the Conversation on Inclusion in the Arab World</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2014/08/07/financial-inclusion-of-disabled-people-in-bangladesh-the-broken-promises-of-mfis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Inclusion of Disabled People in Bangladesh: The Broken Promises of MFIs</a>

&nbsp;

Set to Grow in 2015: Islamic Microfinance

<a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-2013-global-microscope"><img class="alignright wp-image-16543" style="border: 2px solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/microscope.png" alt="" width="280" height="353" /></a>If there’s one thing we’ve learned in taking a close look at financial inclusion efforts around the world, it’s that context matters. That’s why we are excited to be part of the team releasing the <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-global-microscope">Global Microscope 2014: The Enabling Environment for Financial Inclusion</a>. The Microscope is carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with sponsorship and guidance from the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, CAF, and Citi. The Microscope evaluates the environment for financial inclusion in 55 different countries and provides powerful signals to policymakers in each country on their progress. Which countries topped the list and which have the most room to grow?

We’ll tell you, but first, it’s important to know what the results mean. Each country inspected in the Microscope is assessed on 12 indicators that consider best practices in national regulatory environments and institutional support for providers serving clients at the base of the pyramid. Indicators range from government support for financial inclusion, to supervision of microfinance and other financial products, the status of credit reporting, regulations governing mobile banking and, last but not least, consumer protection.

This year is an important one in the publication’s eight year history because the focus shifted from microfinance to the environment for financial inclusion, a process that involved adapting the framework to account for today’s diversity of providers and products. What we were surprised by, however, was just how little a difference this made in the rankings. We charted last year’s results on the microfinance environment against this year’s results on the financial inclusion environment and we found a very high correlation between the two (see figure below). Environments that are enabling for microfinance are often environments that are enabling for financial inclusion. Six countries from last year’s top 10 were in this year’s top ten.

<a href="http://bit.ly/1s9k6T0"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-16546" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/microscope-figure.png" alt="" width="600" height="290" /></a>

So, who leads the pack? Here’s the list of the top 10 countries and their scores (on a scale of 0 to 100).
1) Peru -- 87
2) Colombia -- 85
3) Philippines -- 79
4) Chile -- 66
5) Mexico and India (tie) -- 61
7) Bolivia and Pakistan (tie) -- 58
9) Cambodia and Tanzania (tie) -- 56
There were three very clear champions: Peru, Colombia, and the Philippines, whose scores are well above the next-ranked country, Chile. Peru and Colombia performed strongly across the board, scoring in the top five on nearly all indicators. The Philippines’ inclusion environment ranked well in part due to its capable regulator, optimal credit regulation, and effective dispute-resolution mechanisms.

The wide range of performance is notable. Top-scoring Peru secured 87 out of a possible 100 points, while lowest-ranked Haiti only managed 16, and there are countries spread rather evenly throughout the whole scoring distribution. This reveals a very wide range of attention to and progress on financial inclusion across the world. This range is borne out by the finding that a third of countries have active national financial inclusion strategies with targets, a third have strategies that remain vague or patchy, and a third have not made any formal commitment to financial inclusion.

Regionally, both Latin America and the Caribbean and East and South Asia score well. While the Middle East and North Africa region had the lowest regional average score, low scores are present among countries in several regions: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Egypt, Yemen, and Haiti.

East and South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are the leading regions in regulation for electronic payments. Kenya and Tanzania in particular stand out for their strong regulation conducive to the growth of mobile payments, and Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka for their effective e-pay infrastructure.

The Microscope found that countries that had strong institutional support – credit reporting, client protection, accounting standards – often performed very well overall, and countries that had weak institutional support performed poorly. Countries at the bottom of the rankings performed especially poorly on measures of institutional support.

The Microscope report, with its country profiles, provides a rich source of information for further research. It also provides a stimulus for policymakers to focus on areas for improvement and to look to the leaders for inspiration and example.

For more detail, including country breakdowns and rankings, you can download the report <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-global-microscope">here</a>.

Graphic credits: <a href="http://bit.ly/1s9k6T0">'Global Microscope 2014'</a>

Have you read?

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/12/17/defining-the-path-to-financial-inclusion-in-peru/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defining the Path to Financial Inclusion in Peru</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/10/03/global-microscope-finds-the-world-getting-more-microfinance-friendly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Microscope Finds the World Getting More Microfinance-Friendly</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2012/12/20/putting-a-microscope-on-client-protection-in-microfinance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Putting a Microscope on Client Protection in Microfinance</a>

&nbsp;

The 'Global Microscope 2014': Results and Surprises

Mayada El-Zoghbi

Managing Director

Sonja Kelly

Cambodia

Yemen, Rep.

Zambia

Afghanistan

Australia

Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Brazil

China

Colombia

Dominican Republic

Ghana

Guatemala

India

Indonesia

Libya

Malaysia

Mexico

Morocco

Nigeria

Pakistan

Paraguay

Peru

South Africa

Sudan

Tanzania

Tunisia

United States

Bolivia

Chile

Congo, Dem. Rep.

Egypt, Arab Rep.

Haiti

Kenya

Madagascar

Philippines

Sri Lanka

Agent Banking

Index Insurance

Mobile Banking

Youth

Aging and Older Adults

Consumer Protection

Financial Capability

Financial Inclusion Strategy

Fintechs

Housing Finance

Impact Investing

Microfinance

Persons With Disabilities

Policy, Regulation and Government Initiatives

Risk Management

Saving

Social Performance

Women

Trends

Blog Post

Jeffrey Riecke

China’s economy has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, with a booming micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) market. There are over 50 million MSMEs in China that collectively account for over 60% of China’s GDP and over 50% of the government’s tax income. These businesses create 80% of total employment in China’s urban areas.

Despite China’s overall economic growth, the need to foster full financial inclusion is still imperative. In 2010, 38 million MSMEs lacked access to formal financial services, forcing them to borrow informally from friends, family, and moneylenders.

India is a global leader in financial inclusion. For over a decade, Accion has worked with and learned from India’s innovators, investors, and policymakers to expand economic opportunity for its people and businesses.

Most of Mexico’s people lack access to a formal bank account. Accion has worked in Mexico for decades to create a thriving and competitive financial sector that embraces innovation and protects its clients.

Though Nigeria’s government has set ambitious goals for financial inclusion, the majority of its people lack a formal bank account. Accion has worked in the country since 2007 to expand access to financial services.

South Africa is a global hub for fintech innovation. Accion supports and advises South African innovators using technology to help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and families protect their homes around the world.

The majority of Kenyans have mobile money accounts; their activity demonstrates digital financial services’ potential. Accion helps Kenyan innovators harness emerging technologies to create new financial services.