Publications

Payment Services Directive II (PSD2) for FinTech and Payment Service Providers

29 Sep 2017
  • HVG Law and Earnest & Young

The introduction of the Payment Services Directive II (PSD2) will open up the payment services market by regulating the FinTech revolution currently happening on a community level. The EU-wide harmonization of online payments is aimed at increasing the security for payment transactions and account information and creating a level playing field to enhance competition. PSD2 introduces the Third Party Provider (TPP) as a definition to regulate new payment services. Two […]

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Agent Network Accelerator Research: Pakistan Country Report September 2017

28 Sep 2017
  • Imran Khan
  • Mimansa Khanna
  • Sidra Butt–Mughal
  • Vera Bersudskaya

The Agent Network Accelerator (ANA) project is a four-year research project in the following eleven focus countries, managed and conducted by MicroSave/the HelixInstitute of Digital Finance. It is the largest research initiative in the world on mobile money agent networks, designed to determine their success and scale. Pakistan is among 11 African and Asian countries participating in this research project, selected for its contribution to the development of digital financial services globally. […]

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Voice of the Client: Cambodia 2017

28 Sep 2017
  • Jacqueline Foelster
  • Valeriia Ilginisova

This report presents the findings of the Voice of the Client project in Cambodia, a ground-breaking initiative in the microfinance industry developed by Hivos and MIX to leverage mobile technologies as a means to analyze the level of satisfaction of clients with the suite of products and services offered by their financial service providers (FSPs). The analysis is based on data related to client protection principles which were collected from […]

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Taking Blockchain Live: The 20 questions that must be answered to move beyond proof of concept

25 Sep 2017

    In 2016, blockchain took giant steps forward in gaining wider acceptance, especially in areas such as cross-border payments and post-trade in capital markets. However, as Deloitte’s Eric Piscini pointed out earlier this year in CoinDesk, the fear is that if you “poll anyone in the financial services industry, they will likely tell you that the technology is still in need of its break-out moment. If significant headway isn’t made—or real […]

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    Digital Financial Services: Challenges and Opportunities for Emerging Market Banks

    25 Sep 2017
    • Matthew Saal, Principal Industry Specialist and Head of Digital Finance, Financial Institutions Group, IFC
    • Susan Starnes, Strategy Officer, Financial Institutions Group, IFC
    • Thomas Rehermann, Senior Economist, Thought Leadership, Economics and Private Sector Development, IFC.

    The digital transformation that has upended industries from retail and media to transport and business-to-business commerce is now sweeping the financial services industry, through the wide dissemination of digital financial services. This was inevitable, as ubiquitous computing power, pervasive connectivity, mass data storage, and advanced analytical tools can easily and efficiently be applied to financial services. After all, money was already extensively (though not exclusively) created, used, stored, processed, and […]

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    How Fintech is Reaching the Poor in Africa

    25 Sep 2017
    • Alex J. Alexander, CEO of CashDlite
    • Lin Shi, Strategy Analyst, Thought Leadership, Economics and Private Sector Development, IFC
    • Bensam Solomon, Research Assistant, Thought Leadership, Economics and Private Sector Development, IFC.

    This note explores the way traditional banks and financial technology companies, or FinTechs, interact in Africa and Asia, and their ability to offer innovative digital financial services that grant unbanked individuals access to financial transactions. The FinTech sector is experiencing explosive growth in both continents, but while Asian banks have managed to efficiently integrate with FinTech solutions, African banks have been slower to adapt to this change. Still, the outlook […]

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    Fraud in Mobile Financial Services: Protecting Consumers, Providers, and the System

    09 Sep 2017
    • Mercy W. Buku
    • Rafe Mazer

    This Brief highlights how fraud is impacting mobile money providers, agents, and consumers, as well as efforts to reduce risks and vulnerabilities to fraud in mobile money and related services. While it is not possible to remove fraud entirely from any service—mobile money included—the examples addressed here show that fraud is a major issue in several key markets for consumers and agents, and that there are simple steps providers can […]

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    Building a Secure and Inclusive Global Financial Ecosystem

    08 Sep 2017
    • Robin J. Lewis
    • John D. Villasenor
    • Darrell M. West

    The 2017 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) report evaluates access to and usage of affordable financial services by underserved people across 26 geographically, politically, and economically diverse countries. The report assesses these countries’ financial inclusion ecosystems based on four dimensions of financial inclusion: country commitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment, and adoption of selected traditional and digital financial services.  The report further examines key developments in the global financial inclusion landscape, highlights selected financial […]

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    How Financial Institutions and Fintechs Are Partnering for Inclusion

    01 Sep 2017
    • Sonja Kelly
    • Dennis Ferenzy
    • Allyse McGrath

    This report—produced as a partnership with the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI), along with technical advisory support from IFC and funding from MetLife—examines how partnerships between mainstream financial institutions (e.g., banks, insurers, and payment companies) and fintechs are addressing financial inclusion challenges and expanding access to the formal financial economy for underserved segments of the global population, particularly in emerging markets. It incorporates insights […]

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    Data Analytics and Digital Financial Services

    01 Sep 2017
    • Dean Caire
    • Soren Heitmann
    • Susie Lonie
    • Minakshi Ramji
    • Leonardo Camiciotti
    • Christian Racca
    • Qiuyan Xu

    This is the third handbook on digital financial services (DFS) produced and published by the Partnership for Financial Inclusion, a joint initiative of IFC and The MasterCard Foundation to expand microfinance and advance DFS in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first handbook in the series, the Alternative Delivery Channels and Technology Handbook, provides a comprehensive guide to the components of digital financial technology with particular focus on the hardware and software building […]

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