You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘2015 Global Microscope’ tag.
> Posted by Hannah Sherman and Jeffrey Riecke, Project Associate and Communications Specialist, CFI
In terms of financial inclusion, Haiti has much to be excited about. That might come as a surprise as it is considered to have among the worst environments for financial inclusion efforts, at least according to the Global Microscope. In the 2015 Microscope rankings, Haiti was at the very bottom of the list. Though this 2015 score reflected great progress compared to 2014. In fact, Haiti’s score improved year-on-year more than nearly any other country. This was due in large part to the development of a national financial inclusion strategy. However, Haiti’s path forward, including the implementation of this national strategy, is less than straightforward.
Haiti is still very poor. More than three-quarters of the population lives on less than $2 a day, and about two-thirds are unemployed. According to the Global Findex, in 2014 only 19 percent of Haitians aged 15 or above had access to a bank account, compared with 51 percent across all of Latin America and the Caribbean. Nine percent of the adult population had formal savings in 2014 (compared with 14 percent regionally), and 5 percent were formal borrowers (compared with 11 percent in the region). Small and medium-sized businesses and microenterprises make up the majority of the country’s jobs, and their access to finance is extremely limited.
But in recent years, Haiti has achieved impressive advances in its policy, regulation, and enabling infrastructure. About a year ago the Banque de la République d’Haïti (BRH, the central bank) passed the national financial inclusion strategy, which was supported by the World Bank and other international organizations. Among the strategy’s priority areas are financial education and consumer protection. In July of last year, USAID and Haiti’s Office of Economic Growth and Agricultural Development announced plans to work towards expanding financial access in support of this strategy. Their effort focuses on harnessing partnerships across stakeholder types to pilot and develop interventions.
> Posted by Allyse McGrath, Senior Associate, CFI
Readers of the 2015 Global Microscope, which spotlights the quality of the policy environment for financial inclusion, often focus on the countries at the top of the pack. However, some of the largest improvements in this year’s report are happening towards the bottom of the ranks. This trend appears on a regional scale, with the Middle East and North Africa, the region with the collective lowest scores, showing the most improved scores in this year’s issue of the Global Microscope. In this region, Egypt serves as an example of a country making huge strides even though it’s not among the top 10 countries. In fact, it scores among the very lowest handful of countries.
Up two spots from 53 to 51 out of 55 total markets this year, Egypt improved its score in 7 of the 12 Microscope indicators. The 8-point jump overall can be attributed to many factors, most notably the government’s introduction of a new regulation which broadens financial supervisory to a burgeoning microfinance sector and its welcoming of new electronic payments experiments.
In November 2014, the Egyptian Government enacted Law no. 141, more commonly known as the “Microfinance Law”, which created provisions for regulating MFIs in the country, previously excluded from the legal framework. This law expanded the reach of the Egyptian Finance Supervisory Authority (EFSA) which now has control over issuing licenses to microfinance institutions in Egypt. After the law’s issuance in 2014, the number of MFIs in Egypt rose from 400 to 640. By the end of 2015, EFSA reported that it had issued 253 licenses. The law which is aimed at ensuring efficiency, transparency, and risk management also includes a list of “Executive Decrees” by which licensed institutions must abide.
> Posted by Hannah Sherman, Project Associate, CFI
In recent years mobile technology has played an increasingly important role in improving financial inclusion. And though Africa gets all the press, right now in Latin America mobile money services are growing faster than in any other region in the world.
There are currently 37 mobile money services operating in the 19 countries in the region, with nearly 15 million registered mobile money accounts. People in Latin America use the services somewhat differently from those in East Africa – more than 25 percent of all mobile money transactions in Latin America were third-party transactions like bill payments and merchant payments, over four times more than in East Africa, where person-to-person transfers predominate.
Despite high mobile penetration throughout the region, it becomes quickly apparent when looking at the Latin American market that there is no single approach to building financial inclusion via mobile money that will be effective across all countries. Although mobile penetration is high throughout Latin America, Pyramid Research found that there are three separate and distinct categories of countries to consider: those with an underdeveloped financial system; those with an emerging financial system; and those with a developed financial system. Each category requires a different mobile financial inclusion strategy. Given their high proportion of under- and unbanked people, countries with an underdeveloped financial system, such as Bolivia, Honduras, and Paraguay stand to benefit the most.
Facebook
Twitter
Recent Comments