The increasing prominence of financial inclusion as a tool for development and growth has spawned extensive data-gathering initiatives to measure, understand and improve it. The result is a variety of new measurement frameworks that leverage this data.
Early indications suggest that financial inclusion targets (such as the percentage of adults with a bank account) remain valid, but they don’t tell you much when tracked in isolation. Are people actually using their financial services, can serve as a useful measurement of consumer status or outcomes, and, more importantly, what is the impact on livelihoods?
See how we are working to change the way financial inclusion is viewed and the data used to measure it.
Despite the increasing availability of data and a growing appreciation for the importance of data-driven product design, there is a practical disconnect between the decisions being made for financial inclusion in Africa and the available data. This gap hinders the extent to which financial products and services meet the needs
Transactional data can potentially augment the more traditional demand-and-supply data used to monitor use-based financial inclusion indicators. We recently worked with Nigeria’s central switch, the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), to explore customer-level transactional data. NIBSS processes all inter-bank credit and debit transactions as well as all point-of-sale (POS) transactions in
Exploring Africa’s digital-platform economy and financial services The digital-platform economy and its potentially disruptive qualities have been a source of excitement and anxiety globally. In the African context, this debate has taken place largely in the absence of information on the size and nature of platform players. This focus note
Against the backdrop of the financial sector playing a key role in mobilising resources to achieve economic growth, Zimbabwe has in recent times seen severe macroeconomic constraints and hardship. Over the past two decades, the country’s financial sector has learnt (or not learnt) a number of lessons – lessons that
A publication for Capital Markets in Africa Digitalisation: Africa’s future “Across Africa, eCommerce platforms flanked by payments, logistics, tourism and big data partners are starting to lift national economies. Technological disruption is transforming markets and societies across Africa in ways that wouldn’t have been possible even five years ago. And
The recent 2017 Findex findings have triggered another round of important discussions on usage in financial inclusion. They highlight that, in the absence of usage consumers don’t get value from the services they have and providers don’t make money. It’s a lose-lose situation. Understanding usage is important for financial inclusion
Recent Findex findings show that account ownership has increased, globally. But more people than ever are not using their accounts. And while digital payments accounts are on the rise, the number of savings accounts has declined since 2014. These findings have provoked debate about the future of financial inclusion and
Why focus on outcomes of use? The drive for greater financial inclusion is based on the understanding that financial inclusion has impacts on public policy goals such as socioeconomic development, poverty alleviation and growth. Financial sector policymakers set financial inclusion targets and design interventions towards these ultimate impacts, and development
Financial inclusion is an important tool for enabling development and improving the lives of the poor across the globe. Up to now, most governments and organisations that seek to measure aspects of financial inclusion have focused either on access or uptake of formal financial services. While these measures are important,
Many people don’t actively use formal financial services. Understanding why can render important policy insights. This note unpacks the various drivers of usage. Usage at the core. Financial inclusion is recognised as a lever to support mainstream policy objectives like economic growth and human development. A key assumption is that the greater the
Despite the increasing availability of data and a growing appreciation for the importance of data-driven product design, there is a practical disconnect between the decisions being made for financial inclusion in Africa and the available data. This gap hinders the extent to which financial products and services meet the needs
Transactional data can potentially augment the more traditional demand-and-supply data used to monitor use-based financial inclusion indicators. We recently worked with Nigeria’s central switch, the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), to explore customer-level transactional data. NIBSS processes all inter-bank credit and debit transactions as well as all point-of-sale (POS) transactions in
Exploring Africa’s digital-platform economy and financial services The digital-platform economy and its potentially disruptive qualities have been a source of excitement and anxiety globally. In the African context, this debate has taken place largely in the absence of information on the size and nature of platform players. This focus note
Against the backdrop of the financial sector playing a key role in mobilising resources to achieve economic growth, Zimbabwe has in recent times seen severe macroeconomic constraints and hardship. Over the past two decades, the country’s financial sector has learnt (or not learnt) a number of lessons – lessons that
A publication for Capital Markets in Africa Digitalisation: Africa’s future “Across Africa, eCommerce platforms flanked by payments, logistics, tourism and big data partners are starting to lift national economies. Technological disruption is transforming markets and societies across Africa in ways that wouldn’t have been possible even five years ago. And
The recent 2017 Findex findings have triggered another round of important discussions on usage in financial inclusion. They highlight that, in the absence of usage consumers don’t get value from the services they have and providers don’t make money. It’s a lose-lose situation. Understanding usage is important for financial inclusion
Recent Findex findings show that account ownership has increased, globally. But more people than ever are not using their accounts. And while digital payments accounts are on the rise, the number of savings accounts has declined since 2014. These findings have provoked debate about the future of financial inclusion and
Why focus on outcomes of use? The drive for greater financial inclusion is based on the understanding that financial inclusion has impacts on public policy goals such as socioeconomic development, poverty alleviation and growth. Financial sector policymakers set financial inclusion targets and design interventions towards these ultimate impacts, and development
Financial inclusion is an important tool for enabling development and improving the lives of the poor across the globe. Up to now, most governments and organisations that seek to measure aspects of financial inclusion have focused either on access or uptake of formal financial services. While these measures are important,
Many people don’t actively use formal financial services. Understanding why can render important policy insights. This note unpacks the various drivers of usage. Usage at the core. Financial inclusion is recognised as a lever to support mainstream policy objectives like economic growth and human development. A key assumption is that the greater the
