Now reading: Africa’s behavioural science movement is gaining momentum

Behavioural Science

Behavioural science seeks to understand the underlying factors that influence judgements and decision-making. These can relate to the individual or to the contextual environment. Someone living with very little income, for example, will find it more difficult to make long-term decisions around savings or accessing credit. Their constrained circumstances will force them to focus on their immediate needs. A good example of this is when low-income adults borrow from informal providers at very high rates for consumption.

Integrating behavioural insights into our data collection and analysis strategies can advance our understanding and predictions of financial behaviour and guide us to design financial services that really help adults achieve their goals. With current innovations in survey design and data collection, we can test these insights quicker and learn faster.

As part of our global i2i programme, we’ve looked into the barriers and opportunities for integrating new sources of data (e.g. social media) into financial service decision-making that can change the way we do business.

Africa’s financial service providers
Behavioural Science

Africa’s behavioural science movement is gaining momentum

Africa’s financial service providers reach more individuals than ever before. However, challenges remain that undermine the contribution of these services to the welfare of many Africans.   Unintended consumer friction points such as over-indebtedness, late credit repayments or defaults, insurance lapses or dormant accounts have left many providers seeking better ways to achieve positive customer outcomes. We have

31 May, 2019
People interacting in markets, a view of their behaviour
Behavioural Science

Behavioural interventions for financial services

We highlight key insights from our research into behavioural interventions and how they could assist financial service providers to better understand the financial needs of consumers. Financial services can help individuals to manage their money, plan for risks, start entrepreneurial ventures and build assets over time. These benefits are, however,

16 April, 2019
Behavioural Science

What can behavioural science tell us about the financial decisions of women?

Women are significantly less likely to use formal banking services than men, due to a range of barriers to access and use. A lack of gender-disaggregated data makes it difficult to identify specific ways in which women may interact with financial products and services differently than men. One area that is little understood

24 April, 2018
Behavioural Science

Behavioural interventions that advance financial inclusion

“A behavioural intervention is any customer interaction that has been explicitly designed to influence the financial decision (or behaviour) of an existing or potential customer.”  Financial service providers (FSPs) are continually looking for innovative ways in which they can design and deliver financial services to reduce cost and increase the

6 March, 2018
Behavioural Science

Behavioural Interventions for Financial Services Database

This database reflects a systematic review of behaviourally informed interventions that have significantly impacted the financial decisions of individuals as they engage with credit, savings, payment and insurance products (excluding health insurance). The criteria for inclusion were studies where: Rigorous research (RCT, lab or field experiments) was undertaken A behavioural

6 February, 2018
Behavioural Science

Deeper drivers of financial decision-making not fully understood

Jonathan Zinman explains why he thinks further research is required in order better understand the drivers of decision-making and the ways in which technology can be used to test behaviourally inspired innovations. According to available research, which factors have proved to be the most powerful influencers of financial decision-making?  This is

8 November, 2017
Behavioural Science

Using behavioural interventions to improve uptake and usage of financial products

Astute business executives know that their customers are not the rational decision makers that economic models presume them to be. People often make suboptimal decisions that don’t reflect their needs or best interests. For instance, customers overspend on their credit cards, fail to save enough for retirement or don’t take

31 October, 2017
Behavioural Science

Mining the gap: Financial inclusion and gender

The importance of data for closing the financial inclusion gender gap. The 2014 Global Findex Report identified that in developing economies, women are 9% less likely to be formally banked than men, with 59% of men and 50% of women having bank accounts. The financial inclusion community is actively addressing this gap, but

23 October, 2017
Behavioural Science

i2i brochure

The availability of data in financial inclusion has grown tremendously in recent years. Data initiatives such as the World Bank’s Findex, FinMark Trust’s Finscope, IMF’s Financial Access Surveys, AFI’s Core Set, GPFI’s Basic Set, MIX Market’s Finclusion Lab, as well as countless studies driven at a national level, have played a critical role in deepening our understanding

15 January, 2016
Africa’s financial service providers
Behavioural Science

Africa’s behavioural science movement is gaining momentum

Africa’s financial service providers reach more individuals than ever before. However, challenges remain that undermine the contribution of these services to the welfare of many Africans.   Unintended consumer friction points such as over-indebtedness, late credit repayments or defaults, insurance lapses or dormant accounts have left many providers seeking better ways to achieve positive customer outcomes. We have

31 May, 2019
People interacting in markets, a view of their behaviour
Behavioural Science

Behavioural interventions for financial services

We highlight key insights from our research into behavioural interventions and how they could assist financial service providers to better understand the financial needs of consumers. Financial services can help individuals to manage their money, plan for risks, start entrepreneurial ventures and build assets over time. These benefits are, however,

16 April, 2019
Behavioural Science

What can behavioural science tell us about the financial decisions of women?

Women are significantly less likely to use formal banking services than men, due to a range of barriers to access and use. A lack of gender-disaggregated data makes it difficult to identify specific ways in which women may interact with financial products and services differently than men. One area that is little understood

24 April, 2018
Behavioural Science

Behavioural interventions that advance financial inclusion

“A behavioural intervention is any customer interaction that has been explicitly designed to influence the financial decision (or behaviour) of an existing or potential customer.”  Financial service providers (FSPs) are continually looking for innovative ways in which they can design and deliver financial services to reduce cost and increase the

6 March, 2018
Behavioural Science

Behavioural Interventions for Financial Services Database

This database reflects a systematic review of behaviourally informed interventions that have significantly impacted the financial decisions of individuals as they engage with credit, savings, payment and insurance products (excluding health insurance). The criteria for inclusion were studies where: Rigorous research (RCT, lab or field experiments) was undertaken A behavioural

6 February, 2018
Behavioural Science

Deeper drivers of financial decision-making not fully understood

Jonathan Zinman explains why he thinks further research is required in order better understand the drivers of decision-making and the ways in which technology can be used to test behaviourally inspired innovations. According to available research, which factors have proved to be the most powerful influencers of financial decision-making?  This is

8 November, 2017
Behavioural Science

Using behavioural interventions to improve uptake and usage of financial products

Astute business executives know that their customers are not the rational decision makers that economic models presume them to be. People often make suboptimal decisions that don’t reflect their needs or best interests. For instance, customers overspend on their credit cards, fail to save enough for retirement or don’t take

31 October, 2017
Behavioural Science

Mining the gap: Financial inclusion and gender

The importance of data for closing the financial inclusion gender gap. The 2014 Global Findex Report identified that in developing economies, women are 9% less likely to be formally banked than men, with 59% of men and 50% of women having bank accounts. The financial inclusion community is actively addressing this gap, but

23 October, 2017
Behavioural Science

i2i brochure

The availability of data in financial inclusion has grown tremendously in recent years. Data initiatives such as the World Bank’s Findex, FinMark Trust’s Finscope, IMF’s Financial Access Surveys, AFI’s Core Set, GPFI’s Basic Set, MIX Market’s Finclusion Lab, as well as countless studies driven at a national level, have played a critical role in deepening our understanding

15 January, 2016
©2008 – 2022 Cenfri. All Rights Reserved | SEO