A financial sector that works for consumers has a suite of products and features that are suitable to consumers’ needs, are safe from cybercrime and that protect consumers’ privacy. Ideally, empowered consumers exercise an informed choice, understand the information disclosed to them, and have their voice heard in their interaction with financial services providers and agents.
The reality is often different. Cenfri’s consumer outcomes work aims to bridge the gap. We have worked with Consumers International, CGAP, GIZ, FSD Kenya, FSCA South Africa and the SADC Secretariat. Our track record includes policy briefs, regional consumer protection guidelines, financial inclusion measurement, measurement of consumer outcomes, and country-level consumer protection technical assistance.
We also have a significant body of work on behavioural science and its application in the financial sector.
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
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
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
Why is it that 80 percent of bank account holders in Madagascar only use their accounts once a month or less? What makes the parents of a child requiring unforeseen medical treatment in the DRC choose to approach their mutualitée (a local form of informal mutual aid society) for a
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may be one of the most challenging environments for financial services. From both a provider and consumer perspective, infrastructure, a rapidly changing financial services landscape and regional disparities pose significant challenges to the market. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance formally requested UNCDF’s
MAP Madagascar 2017 found that the island state has a largely agrarian population vulnerable to the extremes of nature: 72% of adults depended on agriculture, more than 4.2m adults experienced a climate-related shock in the preceding year, and at least 40% reported being uncertain about whether they will have food
Have you heard of the Fosbury Flop? Probably not. But you’d know one if you saw it. It’s the technique that high jumpers use when jumping back-first over high bars, commonly seen at the Olympics. It wasn’t always the accepted way of doing things, of course. Previously, athletes approached the
This blog series stimulates a broader discussion on gendered financial inclusion in ASEAN. We examine why women’s access to financial services does not necessarily equate gendered usage. We further explore whether the value that women derive from financial services is impacted by the provider they access them from. It is
This blog series seeks to generate a broader discussion on the data that is needed to close the gender gap in financial inclusion in ASEAN. A previous blog post argued that the headline data available on financial inclusion in the ASEAN region – the percentage of women with access to
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
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
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
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
Why is it that 80 percent of bank account holders in Madagascar only use their accounts once a month or less? What makes the parents of a child requiring unforeseen medical treatment in the DRC choose to approach their mutualitée (a local form of informal mutual aid society) for a
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may be one of the most challenging environments for financial services. From both a provider and consumer perspective, infrastructure, a rapidly changing financial services landscape and regional disparities pose significant challenges to the market. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance formally requested UNCDF’s
MAP Madagascar 2017 found that the island state has a largely agrarian population vulnerable to the extremes of nature: 72% of adults depended on agriculture, more than 4.2m adults experienced a climate-related shock in the preceding year, and at least 40% reported being uncertain about whether they will have food
Have you heard of the Fosbury Flop? Probably not. But you’d know one if you saw it. It’s the technique that high jumpers use when jumping back-first over high bars, commonly seen at the Olympics. It wasn’t always the accepted way of doing things, of course. Previously, athletes approached the
This blog series stimulates a broader discussion on gendered financial inclusion in ASEAN. We examine why women’s access to financial services does not necessarily equate gendered usage. We further explore whether the value that women derive from financial services is impacted by the provider they access them from. It is
This blog series seeks to generate a broader discussion on the data that is needed to close the gender gap in financial inclusion in ASEAN. A previous blog post argued that the headline data available on financial inclusion in the ASEAN region – the percentage of women with access to
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
