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Competition in Financial Services: Three Country Paths, One Bigger Question

While access to finance has grown, market concentration and high costs remain. Brazil, India, and the UK prove that when financial regulators prioritize competition through policy, they can lower prices and improve variety for all consumers.

How Does Financial Inclusion Impact Financial Integrity?

Policymakers view financial inclusion and financial integrity as mutually reinforcing policy goals. Since 2011, about 2 billion people have gained access to formal financial services. But how has increased financial inclusion served financial integrity objectives?

Beyond the Headlines: EAP's Hidden Inclusion Gaps

While high-level data suggests financial inclusion is rising in East Asia and the Pacific, China’s massive progress often masks disparities elsewhere. Here, we explore the "hidden gaps" facing women and rural communities and call for more inclusive financial systems.

From Digital Adoption to Digital Advantage in Microfinance

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) must move beyond piecemeal digital updates to comprehensive digitization. By evolving their models, MFIs can improve efficiency, reach more last-mile clients, and compete with new fintechs.

Financial Health Matters: It’s A Bridge to Resilience and Prosperity

In an era of economic volatility and rapid financial innovation, the concept of financial health has emerged as a critical bridge between financial inclusion and positive outcomes for people and economies.

Women’s Financial Empowerment at the Heart of a Developed India

As India charts its course toward Viksit Bharat 2047, it will need a financial system that not only includes women but also strengthens their economic power by giving them control over money, decisions, and assets at every life stage.

What’s Driving Quiet Gains for Young Women’s Use of Financial Services?

Young women’s use of financial services jumped 9 points since 2021. Findex 2025 data suggests government transfers now play a bigger role in shaping young women’s financial behaviors, narrowing the gender gap despite stable education and wage trends.

Rethinking Evidence: When Does Inclusive Finance Work and for Whom

This leadership essay reassesses what we think we know as a sector, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the existing evidence base and proposing new methods for building a better one.

Building Climate-Resilient Microfinance: Lessons from Pakistan

Here, we share three key lessons in resilience from Pakistan’s microfinance sector to help other microfinance institutions (MFIs) avoid climate change undermining their operations and commitment to driving financial inclusion.

The Power of Microdata From Global Findex

In this blog, CGAP goes beyond the aggregate data in Global Findex and uses its microdata to examine financial inclusion at the individual level. Here’s how we are doing it and why.

Beyond Account Access: Converting Financial Inclusion into Resilience

Account ownership in LMICs has nearly doubled since 2011, but financial resilience remains stubbornly low: just 56% of adults can access emergency funds within 30 days. Achieving true progress on financial resilience will mean moving beyond account ownership as the primary metric of success.

Measuring Financial Health: Findex Broadens Its Scope

Financial health is rising on global agendas, but measuring it remains fragmented. The 2025 Global Findex expands coverage across four key dimensions, offering a step toward global benchmarks while balancing local realities.

What the New FATF Travel Rule Means for Financial Inclusion

While new FATF updates aim to combat money laundering, financing of terrorism, and fraud, they also raise important questions about how implementation will affect financial inclusion. We offer analysis on Recommendation 16 (or the 'Travel Rule').

From Access to Impact: It’s Time to Realize the Full Promise of Financial Inclusion

Part of CGAP’s new series on the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025, we draw from CGAP's and Accion's work to highlight six opportunities that need to be prioritized to unlock a golden opportunity for embracing growing digitization to shift financial inclusion from access to impact.

Banking on Progress: Why the Next Chapter of Financial Inclusion is so Important

New data from the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 reveals significant progress on financial inclusion. But while much has been achieved, challenges remain and new solutions are needed to help reach the last mile and to unlock the power of financial services for development.

The FATF’s Revised Travel Rule: Key Changes for Payment Transparency

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently adopted a revised travel rule for payments and value transfers – known as Recommendation 16 (R.16). The adoption of the rule raises some important questions – why was this revision required and what is the scope of the changes?

When Does Financial Education Work Best? Evidence-Based Insights

CGAP’s Impact Pathfinder consistently identified financial education as a factor for the uptake and use of financial services, prompting us to ask: Could it be playing a more central role in what works, for whom, and in what circumstances?

The Hidden Costs of Forex Funding: Do Women Pay a Higher Price?

Smaller lenders serve women borrowers best but face high costs, forex risk, and limited scale. In light of this fact, donors and DFIs must expand local currency funding and strengthen risk management to close the gender gap in finance.

Competition as a Catalyst for Financial Inclusion

Healthy competition in the financial sector is essential for advancing financial inclusion, as it lowers costs, spurs innovation, improves access and service quality—especially for underserved populations.

Is Climate Change Undermining Financial Inclusion? Early Evidence Says Yes

Early evidence from Pakistan confirms the need to shore up the financial institutions that serve vulnerable populations facing climate impacts, as climate risk threatens to undermine global progress on financial inclusion.