Technology and innovation is changing the nature of financial markets. Innovation can create opportunities, enhance efficiencies, increase competition, drive scale, and improve the reach and value of financial products and services to consumers. However, with innovation also comes risk.
Much attention is currently placed on the development of new technologies, business models and on creating the regulatory space for these models to encourage and facilitate innovation whilst protecting consumers to support both market development and consumer protection.
Our work explores the benefits and risks of technology and innovation across Africa and Latin America. We work to understand, map and support the various drivers for inclusive innovation, including the development of sustainable and welfare-enhancing products.
As societies and economies change, so should the financial products that serve them. Financial products help us manage our lives. They enable us to receive, store and spend money. The banking, mobile money, pensions and credit products we see have been shaped by the historical structure of our economies and
Exploring digital fiat currencies (DFC) / central bank digital currency (CBDC) Cryptocurrency has taken the financial world by storm since 2008 through its ability to deliver peer-to-peer payment that is faster, cheaper, more secure, more convenient and more efficient than traditional legacy-based banking systems. As a result, cryptocurrency is increasingly
Exploring how transactional-data-driven network analysis can allow financial service providers increase the value they provide to customers Traditional banks serve a diverse set of customers that may include entities such as schools, churches, agricultural cooperatives, small enterprises, SACCOs, farmers, households and individuals (to name a few). Each of these customer segments engage in
Mary is the owner of a small business in Blantyre, Malawi, and the main breadwinner for her family. To support her family in the event that something happens to her, she has a funeral policy that she contributes to monthly in cash at the local insurance branch. The process is
For regulators, the dual implications of innovation make it a critically important but challenging topic to address. Regulators with a mandate to encourage market development and sectoral growth are obliged to encourage innovative providers and products that help to drive this market development and enhance consumer value. However, regulators are
From 2009 to 2015 the proportion of adults, financially excluded from any financial service, decreased from 63% to 41% in Zambia, which exceeded the Zambian Government‘s national target of 50%. More than 14% of these adults now use mobile money services, whilst the largest growth has been in the use
Digital financial inclusion holds great promise. Last year, a McKinsey report found that digital finance could add up to $3.7 trillion to the GDP of emerging economies within a decade. A recent blog from the World Bank explains that the biggest impact from financial inclusion comes from digital payments and savings accounts. Studies
The business of insurance is hard. Microinsurance delivery has proven to be nearly impossible. Despite almost two decades of focus on the under and uninsured, microinsurance reaches just under 300 million people across the developing world. This is only around 10% of the potential market for insurance. While promising examples
Nearly a year ago, we joined the A2ii in Abidjan to sit down with a roomful of regulators to discuss the challenges and imperatives CIMA faces in regulating mobile insurance at the CIMA-A2ii Workshop on Mobile Insurance Regulation. In the CIMA context, as with most countries in Africa, mobile network operators (MNOs) and the technical
This is the first version of the insurtech tracker. Explore more on insurtech here or see the updated insurtech tracker here.
As societies and economies change, so should the financial products that serve them. Financial products help us manage our lives. They enable us to receive, store and spend money. The banking, mobile money, pensions and credit products we see have been shaped by the historical structure of our economies and
Exploring digital fiat currencies (DFC) / central bank digital currency (CBDC) Cryptocurrency has taken the financial world by storm since 2008 through its ability to deliver peer-to-peer payment that is faster, cheaper, more secure, more convenient and more efficient than traditional legacy-based banking systems. As a result, cryptocurrency is increasingly
Exploring how transactional-data-driven network analysis can allow financial service providers increase the value they provide to customers Traditional banks serve a diverse set of customers that may include entities such as schools, churches, agricultural cooperatives, small enterprises, SACCOs, farmers, households and individuals (to name a few). Each of these customer segments engage in
Mary is the owner of a small business in Blantyre, Malawi, and the main breadwinner for her family. To support her family in the event that something happens to her, she has a funeral policy that she contributes to monthly in cash at the local insurance branch. The process is
For regulators, the dual implications of innovation make it a critically important but challenging topic to address. Regulators with a mandate to encourage market development and sectoral growth are obliged to encourage innovative providers and products that help to drive this market development and enhance consumer value. However, regulators are
From 2009 to 2015 the proportion of adults, financially excluded from any financial service, decreased from 63% to 41% in Zambia, which exceeded the Zambian Government‘s national target of 50%. More than 14% of these adults now use mobile money services, whilst the largest growth has been in the use
Digital financial inclusion holds great promise. Last year, a McKinsey report found that digital finance could add up to $3.7 trillion to the GDP of emerging economies within a decade. A recent blog from the World Bank explains that the biggest impact from financial inclusion comes from digital payments and savings accounts. Studies
The business of insurance is hard. Microinsurance delivery has proven to be nearly impossible. Despite almost two decades of focus on the under and uninsured, microinsurance reaches just under 300 million people across the developing world. This is only around 10% of the potential market for insurance. While promising examples
Nearly a year ago, we joined the A2ii in Abidjan to sit down with a roomful of regulators to discuss the challenges and imperatives CIMA faces in regulating mobile insurance at the CIMA-A2ii Workshop on Mobile Insurance Regulation. In the CIMA context, as with most countries in Africa, mobile network operators (MNOs) and the technical
This is the first version of the insurtech tracker. Explore more on insurtech here or see the updated insurtech tracker here.
