Rafe Mazer

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Rafe Mazer works with CGAP's Policy Team on applying behavioral research to consumer protection and financial inclusion. For more than five years he has been designing and leading behavioral research projects with policymakers, providers and donors to help understand how our behaviors impact financial decisions and outcomes.

Research issues Rafe has explored include: Does digital delivery credit change how we borrow and save? Why do financial sales staff sometimes give the right advice, and others times mislead consumers? Do consumers really care about their data privacy in financial inclusion? Why do some consumers choose to complain about a problem, while others remain silent?

This research has been used to develop a range of financial inclusion solutions, including interactive SMS for mobile savings and credit, key facts statements and disclosure regulations, complaints handling regulations, data disclosure messaging, and regulations for consumer protection in digital financial services. He has led research in markets including Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Tanzania.

By Rafe Mazer

Blog

Mystery Shopping: A Different Way to “Listen to the Customer”

Mystery shopping is another way of "listening to the customer" and understanding what their experience at a financial institution is really like.
Research

Mystery Shopping for Financial Services

This Technical Guide is designed to enable policy makers with jurisdiction over market conduct issues, consumer protection organizations, and development agencies to conduct mystery shopping exercises.
Blog

Fixing the Hidden Charges in Lipa na M-Pesa

Kenyan regulators took action to disclose Lipa na M-Pesa’s pricing structure. The move highlights a growing problem as digital financial services expand: Existing financial consumer protection rules are not being enforced consistently on these delivery channels.
Blog

Digital Credit: Consumer Protection for M-Shwari and M-Pawa Users

Digital credit products are only going to become a more important element of financial services in emerging markets where expansion of mobile money platforms has created potential borrower segments of millions of consumers that are only an SMS away.
Blog

USSD Access: A Gateway and Barrier to Effective Competition

To serve the unbanked, mobile financial service providers continue to rely on USSD technology to bring innovations like mobile money to the unbanked. CGAP research in Kenya and Tanzania identified several competition-relevant issues in USSD access.