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Apr 18, 2019

Longitudinal Study: Results from Four Years of a New Banking Model for Africa

From 2014 to 2018, IFC and the Mastercard Foundation conducted a longitudinal study with nine partner financial institutions (FIs) in seven Sub-Saharan African countries to understand best practices to scale Digital Financial Services (DFS) and expand financial inclusion. The study extracts lessons on DFS strategy and implementation, business models and how institutional culture and change management influence organizations undertaking a DFS journey. By analyzing the experiences of these FIs over time, the study yields valuable lessons and benchmarks for the industry and helps to differentiate salient DFS issues faced by FIs versus MNOs.

English | 47 pages | 2019 IFC

Apr 16, 2019

Poverty Estimation with Satellite Imagery at Neighborhood Levels

Applying machine vision models to satellite images provide a tantalizing opportunity to “see” from space features and geographical areas that correspond to higher and lower levels of welfare and poverty. To date, encouraging results have been identified using night-time light emissions, as increased levels of urbanization, electrification and infrastructure correlate with wealthier geographic segments. But these approaches cover city-wide areas or bigger and do not yield the granular information that policy makers and service providers need to understand localized markets, customer demographics and how interventions impact individual beneficiaries.

English | 29 pages | 2019 IFC

Apr 15, 2019

Small Businesses and Digital Financial Services – Predictive Modelling and Segmentation for Market Sizing and Product Design

Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises are the backbone of vibrant and dynamic economies. But they are sometimes hard for financial institutions to identify because of the methods they use to conduct their transactions. This report discusses predictive data models to help a mobile network operator, identify MSMEs in its market and better understand how to serve them. Identification and segmentation of businesses that use mobile money services provides valuable information for product design and targeted marketing.

English | 27 pages | 2019 IFC

Apr 8, 2019

Creating Impact—The Promise of Impact Investing

The report is the most comprehensive assessment so far of the potential global market for impact investing. It estimates that as much as $268 trillion—the financial assets held by institutions and households across the world—is potentially available for investment.

English | 104 pages | 2019 IFC

Apr 8, 2019

Creating Impact - The Promise of Impact Investing

The report is the most comprehensive assessment so far of the potential global market for impact investing. It estimates that as much as $269 trillion—the financial assets held by institutions and households across the world—is potentially available for investment. Channeling just 10 percent of this amount into projects focused on improving social and environmental outcomes would go a long way toward providing the necessary funding for the world to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to shift to a lower-carbon future.

English | 104 pages | 2019 IFC

Apr 4, 2019

Myanmar Corporate Governance Scorecard 2018: A Report on the Assessment of Myanmar Companies

The Myanmar Corporate Governance Scorecard 2018 assesses the performance of 24 companies in Myanmar on the basis of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Corporate Governance Scorecard. The report is the joint work of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar, the Yangon Stock Exchange and the Directorate of Company Investment and Company Administration (DICA).

Apr 4, 2019

Leveraging Big Data for Lending in China (Ant Financial Case Study)

Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba Group, provides microfinancing to women entrepreneurs using online credit assessments.

English | 2 pages | 2019 IFC

Apr 3, 2019

The Case for Responsible Investing in Digital Financial Services

Together with private sector investors, IFC has been leading a global effort to develop new guidelines for responsible investing in digital finance. These guidelines leverage IFC’s significant experience with the Equator Principles and responsible investing in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by focusing on strengthening governance, risk management, consumer protection, and financial well-being for the unbanked and underserved—as well as IFC’s experience as advisor and investor in the digital finance space.

English | 8 Pages - April - Note 67 | IFC 2019

Apr 3, 2019

The Case for Responsible Investing in Digital Financial Services (EM Compass Note 67)

Together with private sector investors, IFC has been leading a global effort to develop new guidelines for responsible investing in digital finance. These guidelines leverage IFC’s significant experience with the Equator Principles and responsible investing in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by focusing on strengthening governance, risk management, consumer protection, and financial well-being for the unbanked and underserved—as well as IFC’s experience as advisor and investor in the digital finance space.

English | 8 pages | 2019 IFC

Mar 29, 2019

Blended Concessional Finance: Governance Matters for Impact

Blended concessional finance, the combination of concessional funds with other types of finance on commercial terms, has great potential to mobilize capital and accelerate high-impact private sector investments in new and challenging markets. Yet full development of these efforts requires strong governance. IFC has been working to develop a robust governance system for blended concessional finance, guided by the Development Finance Institutions Enhanced Principles, a set of principles that employ special operating procedures and checks and balances when using blended concessional finance for private sector projects. These institutions need to learn from each other to ensure good governance, as the sharing of experiences is crucial to building global trust in the use of concessional funds. And to work well, governance structures need to be transparent and focus on solving potential conflicts of interest.

English | 8 Pages - March - Note 66 | IFC 2019

Mar 29, 2019

Blended Concessional Finance: Governance Matters for Impact (EM Compass Note 66)

Blended concessional finance, the combination of concessional funds with other types of finance on commercial terms, has great potential to mobilize capital and accelerate high-impact private sector investments in new and challenging markets. Yet full development of these efforts requires strong governance. IFC has been working to develop a robust governance system for blended concessional finance, guided by the Development Finance Institutions Enhanced Principles, a set of principles that employ special operating procedures and checks and balances when using blended concessional finance for private sector projects. These institutions need to learn from each other to ensure good governance, as the sharing of experiences is crucial to building global trust in the use of concessional funds. And to work well, governance structures need to be transparent and focus on solving potential conflicts of interest.

English | 8 pages | 2019 IFC

Mar 28, 2019

We Lead: Five Women Who Drove Company Success in the Middle East and North Africa And How Good Corporate Governance Helped

The publication showcases current women directors from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, and Morocco who went through various challenges to reach the leadership tier and to show how corporate governance knowledge helped them in their work.

Mar 27, 2019

Fedecrédito (Spanish)

Fedecrédito is the largest federation of 48 Credit Unions and 7 Workers’ Banks offering loans, savings accounts, family remittance payments and other financial products throughout El Salvador. The case study highlights best practices the federation employed to achieve its financial results while maintaining its social mandate.

Mar 27, 2019

Fedecrédito (Summary)

Fedecrédito is the largest federation of 48 Credit Unions and 7 Workers’ Banks offering loans, savings accounts, family remittance payments and other financial products throughout El Salvador. The summary highlights best practices the federation employed to achieve its financial results while maintaining its social mandate.

Mar 26, 2019

The Impact of Domestic and Sexual Violence on the Workplace in Solomon Islands

More than 1,200 people, a third of all employees, from nine Waka Mere companies, participated in the survey on “How problems at home affect employees at work.” The survey findings will inform ongoing development of appropriate workplace responses and provide an early benchmark to measure changes in the ways in which staff are supported.

Mar 22, 2019

Do agent networks help to boost savings? – Effects on institutional deposit mobilization and customer saving behavior

This report examines if agent networks do help to mobilize savings - one of the primary objectives of microfinance institutions that introduce agent banking channels. Mechanisms of effects are presented across multiple dimensions. Results suggest that agents help to boost savings but they cannot be expected to do so in every context. Culture, products, incentives, pricing and customer behavior are factors that have to be taken into account. Key recommendations are discussed how DFS providers can nevertheless realize agent networks’ potential for savings mobilization.

English | 28 pages | 2019 IFC

Mar 21, 2019

Building Mobile Financial Services for Microfinance Institutions (Bank Andara Case Study)

Bank Andara is the first wholesale commercial bank focused exclusively on providing a wide range of wholesale banking services to microfinance institutions in Indonesia. Through this, effort, Bank Andara aims to deepen and expand financial services to low-income market segments through sustainable operations.

English | 2 pages | 2019 IFC

Mar 20, 2019

Fact Sheet: Disclosure and Transparency Toolkit, March 2019

The toolkit supports the broader World Bank Group’s effort to enhance disclosure and transparency standards in the countries and companies it works with, either as an investor or an adviser, through better annual reporting. It provides guidance on preparing comprehensive and integrated annual reports that include critical environmental, social, and governance information to companies, stock exchanges, market regulators and investors alike.

Mar 19, 2019

Credit to Merchants: Tienda Pago's Digital Solution for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

This case study aims to extrapolate some preliminary lessons from Tienda Pago’s model, including its challenges and potential for scale. The study is informed by distributor and customer interviews and qualitative research, which sought to map characteristics of merchant clients and analyze both drivers and barriers to product usage and uptake.

English | 26 pages | 2019 IFC

Mar 18, 2019

Reinventing Business Through Disruptive Technologies

Technology disrupts and transforms. And disruptive technologies are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, many of which can be advanced and accelerated through technological innovations. For a comprehensive examination of the ways these innovations alter private sector business models in emerging markets, IFC conducted a tour of the technology horizon in eight selected sectors—power, transport, water and sanitation, digital infrastructure, manufacturing, agribusiness, education, and financial services—and six selected themes, from gender and climate-smart cities to e-logistics and personal identification, among others. This report examines each of these sectors and themes in terms of what true disruption looks like, which technologies are most likely to have a dramatic impact, and the specific opportunities they offer.

English | 112 pages | IFC 2019

Mar 18, 2019

Women's Leadership in Health

English | 40 pages | March 2019 | IFC

Mar 15, 2019

CASE STUDY: BioE

English | 19 pages | March 2019 | IFC

Mar 13, 2019

Social Bond Impact Report FY 2018

The Social Bond Impact Report details the expected impact of select projects that are financed by IFC’s social bond proceeds. IFC’s social bonds benefit underserved populations in emerging markets, such as women and low-income communities with limited access to essential services like basic infrastructure and finance. The report is an annual publication led by the Investor Relations/Funding team with input from the Inclusive Business and the Banking on Women teams.

English | 32 pages | 2019 IFC

Mar 12, 2019

Governance and Performance in Emerging Markets

Empirical study on the link between performance and corporate governance of IFC investment clients

Mar 12, 2019

Natural Gas and the Clean Energy Transition

In the clean energy transition, the value of natural gas infrastructure is very important for operating the energy system. Gas-fired power plants contribute to optimized energy systems when they are designed to operate flexibly, responding to demand patterns and the variable supply of renewable energy. Smart electricity grids, renewable energy, battery storage technology, and gas-fired power plants in combination will generally be the lowest cost, low-carbon solution to the growing energy requirements of emerging markets. Private investors and financiers are responding to these opportunities, but the full potential will only be reached with improvements in policy, regulation, and procurement in destination markets.

English | 8 pages - March - Note 65 | IFC 2019