Michaella Allen is a Senior Research Analyst at Cenfri and has worked in the Remittances team since 2018. Her primary areas of interest include inclusive digital finance, digital finance regulation, technology and innovation, remittances, and central bank digital fiat currencies (CBDC). Michaella has been involved in projects relating to the remittance flows and migration in sub-Saharan Africa, global innovations in know-your-customer compliance, the expansion of agent networks in Africa, and exploring the use cases, benefits and potential risks of CBDCs. She is also a primary liaison between Cenfri and the DFC focus group at the International Telecommunications Union, as well as a contributor to the group’s outputs. Her current work involves developing country CBDC diagnostic frameworks, consulting on the design of a central bank National Payment strategy, as well as exploring ecosystem enablers for innovators such as fintechs.
Prior to joining Cenfri, Michaella conducted research at the Labour Research Service and completed an internship at the South African Reserve Bank in the Economic Relations Policy Department.