Staff Directory

Maria Fernandez Vidal

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Maria Fernandez Vidal is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist and has led CGAP’s Data team since its establishment in 2020. She leads CGAP’s work on open finance and AI and was the lead author for the Key Considerations for Open Finance, a joint publication by CGAP, the BIS, the IMF, the UNSGSA’s office and the World Bank. Her work focuses on the role of data in advancing financial inclusion and financial health, covering both the public and private sectors.  She has also led work on fintech innovation, platforms and advanced analytics.

Before joining CGAP, Maria spent five years at McKinsey & Company advising financial and public sector clients on strategy, risk, operations, and organizational transformation. She previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Maria holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with a double major in strategic management and finance, and earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

By Maria Fernandez Vidal

Blog

Algorithm Bias in Credit Scoring: What’s Inside the Black Box?

Computers can make faster, better, and less biased lending decisions than humans, but only if human bias hasn’t crept into their algorithms.
Research

Credit Scoring in Financial Inclusion

Statistical models can help lenders in emerging markets standardize and improve their lending decisions. This guide emphasizes that the effectiveness of data analytics approaches often involves building a broader data-driven corporate culture.
Research

Data-Driven Segmentation in Financial Inclusion

Financial services providers can improve their businesses by using segmentation to develop a more accurate understanding of their customers. This guide shows providers how they can use data analytics to understand their customers by performing more complex analyses and extracting insights that were previously hidden.
Research

Using Satellite Data in Financial Inclusion

Financial services providers that see an opportunity to reach financially excluded people in rural areas can use new technology to remotely gather and analyze data on potential customers. This guide explains foundational concepts of machine learning and how FSPs can apply those methods.
Research

Fintechs and Financial Inclusion

Based on pilots with 18 fintechs across Africa and South Asia, this paper identifies emerging fintech innovations with potential to improve the lives of the poor. It also highlights common challenges faced by early-stage fintechs.