Publications: Digital Finance
Results - 25 of at least 78 items found
May 15, 2022
Creating Markets in Honduras: Country Private Sector Diagnostic
The Honduras Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) provides IFC & World Bank analysis of growth and investment opportunities, constraints, & policy recommendations.
English | 147 pages | 2022 IFC
Oct 25, 2021
Building Resilience Through Digital Financial Services
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the important role digital financial services (DFS) can play in reducing disruptions to supply chains, maintaining economic activity, supporting social transfers and ensuring safe transactions while maintaining social distancing. In these challenging times, IFC’s DFS advisory has worked with clients to build resilience and capacity through the Covid-19 crisis while designing, building and developing innovative business models for financial inclusion. This DFS market research series endeavors to share the insights gathered through this work.
Oct 8, 2021
Creating Markets in Haiti: Country Private Sector Diagnostic
The Haiti Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) provides IFC & World Bank analysis of growth and investment opportunities, constraints, & policy recommendations.
English | 137 pages | 2021 IFC
Sep 9, 2021
Creating Markets in Vietnam: Country Private Sector Diagnostic
The Vietnam Country Private Sector Diagnostic provides IFC & World Bank analysis of private investment opportunities, constraints, and policy recommendations.
English | 123 pages | 2021 IFC
Mar 23, 2021
LAPO Agent Banking in Nigeria - Increased Reach, Client Diversity
Nigeria’s Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) and IFC have a long-standing relationship that began in 2012. In 2017 in the context of this partnership, to help serve unbanked people and those with limited or no access to financial services, LAPO piloted an agent-banking network to expand financial access to the unbanked..
English | 17 pages | IFC 2021
Oct 31, 2020
Handbook on Merchant Payments and Digital Financial Services
Designed for digital financial service (DFS) providers that would like to build and manage merchant acceptance networks. Such DFS providers typically include financial institutions, mobile network operators, fintechs, payment service providers and others. The handbook offers best practices that IFC has tested and observed through our global digital-finance projects and engagements.
English | 92 pages | 2020 IFC
Oct 26, 2020
Digital Transformation - The Case of South India Bank
In 2016, IFC began a new project with South Indian Bank (SIB), a mid-sized private bank (currently third largest in southern India). The bank aimed to transform its retail and small and medium enterprise businesses (SMEs). SIB’s transformation strategy was to improve its digital capabilities to drive customer engagement and mobilize deposits.
English | 24 pages | 2020 IFC
Oct 14, 2020
Handbook - Technology and Digitization in Supply-Chain Finance
Digital integration of “traditional” retailers and distributors along supply chains can establish a pathway toward financial inclusion. In this handbook, IFC shares our deep expertise and lessons learned with financial institutions that seek to integrate these traditional businesses into digital-banking networks.
English | 164 pages | 2020 IFC
Jun 1, 2020
Artificial Intelligence Innovation in Financial Services
Artificial intelligence technologies are permeating financial services sectors around the world. The application of these technologies in emerging markets allows financial service providers to further automate their business processes and to leverage new and big data sources to overcome obstacles— including the high cost of serving rural and low-income customers and establishing customer identity and creditworthiness—that prevent the delivery of financial services to many consumers. Realizing financial inclusion benefits through the adoption of artificial intelligence relies on its responsible adoption by firms, on competitive market settings, and on continued investment in the necessary infrastructure.
English | 8 Pages - June - Note 85 | IFC 2020
Dec 3, 2019
Implementing Corporate Governance Practices - A Resource Guide for Microfinance Institutions in Myanmar
This Resource Guide for Microfinance Institutions in Myanmar supports the health of Micro- and Digital Finance firms in that nation. The Guide details the results of a pilot project, the Myanmar Microfinance Program, established in 2013. Prompted by IFC's efforts to promote financial inclusion, the report was produced by our Myanmar Microfinance, East Asia and Pacific Corporate Governance, Global Microfinance and Responsible Finance programs.
182 pages | 2019 IFC
Jul 3, 2019
Trade Finance and the Compliance Challenge
This publication provides an explanation of the current global trade finance gaps amid market failures as well as perceived regulatory risk and presents an analysis of the recent trends of de-risking and the reasons for falling correspondent banking relationships. It shows how the WTO, IFC and the FSB have worked together to respond to this issue since the end of 2017.
English | 50 pages | 2019 IFC
Jul 1, 2019
Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) & Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Risk Management in Emerging Market Banks
Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) & Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Risk Management in Emerging Market Banks - Good Practice Note (06/05/2019)
English | 87 pages | 2019 IFC
Apr 26, 2019
Introducing Mobile Banking to Papua New Guinea (Bank South Pacific Case Study)
Papua New Guinea’s biggest bank, Bank South Pacific, reached new customers and SMEs in rural areas through digital financial services.
English | 2 pages | 2019 IFC
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 11, 2019
Bancamía Expands Micro Credit in Colombia
With support from IFC investment and advisory services, Bancamía S.A., Colombia’s biggest microfinance institution, reaches rural customers with digital financial services.
English | 2 pages | 2019 IFC
Apr 10, 2019
Transactional accounts aimed at low-income customers (Bank AV Villas Case Study)
IFC supports the development of meaningful product offerings for low-income individuals to be distributed through the mobile channel.
English | 2 pages | 2019 IFC
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 (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 (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 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 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
Insights for Boards of Microfinance Institutions - Managing Current Issues, Crisis and Change in Microfinance Institutions
The role of boards of directors in banks and microfinance institutions remain has become pivotal to their sustainable growth. To effectively guide their institutions, boards must deepen their core traditional tools and introduce new ones. This report culls from selected case studies through interviews and firsthand experiences of IFC board directors who are faced with new challenges and opportunities in digital transformation.
English | 74 pages | 2018 | IFC International Finance Corporation 2018
