We support key players in their efforts to extend a diverse array of financial services in markets across the globe. Our collective years of experience, combined with creativity and thought leadership enables us to apply unique perspectives towards overcoming the toughest barriers to financial inclusion.
Featured BFA Project:
Gateway Financial Innovations for Savings (GAFIS)Description:
This program, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is incentivizing five banks from across Asia, Africa and Latin America to deliver savings products to the poor on a financially sustainable basis. BFA supports the banks around product design and channel delivery strategies, among other aspects of product development. We have provided each bank with customer-centric insights from both quantitative and qualitative research instruments. About 50,000 savings accounts have been opened across the five banks to date.
New BFA Publication:
CGAP Focus Note—Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Four CountriesA BFA research project resulted in four individual country reports and a Focus Note which examined four very large G2P programs (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa) to determine both the level of financial inclusion in the payment systems utilized by the programs, and the value proposition for government, recipients, and payment service providers.
The research revealed that financially inclusive payments can be:
- Less expensive for governments
- Better for recipients if they understand them well
- Financially attractive to payment providers
Stimulating Insights:
Portfolios of the Poor
Portfolios of the Poor continues to intrigue financial service providers and development experts as they discover the many ways that poor people intentionally manage their money. The book tackles the fundamental question of how the poor make ends meet, revealing implications for the design and expansion of financial services.
Thanks to a recent grant, Portfolios has been updated with Central- and South-American data, then translated into Spanish and reissued as Finanzas de los Pobres.
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