All over the world, women have less access to credit than men. Because of both discriminatory property laws and unwritten social customs, women are less likely than men to own high-value assets that can be used as collateral to secure loans.
... See More + Financial institutions in developing countries rely on heavy collateral requirements because they don’t have enough information about their borrowers. New technologies, many emerging from financial technology (fintech) startups in the Silicon Valley, have the potential to generate data on borrowers that can replace traditional collateral requirements, and unlock finance for women. In Ethiopia, authors explored introducing fintech that could harness the data that financial institutions are already sitting on. The technology focuses on digitizing hard-copy loan application files of previous borrowers to identify trends and characteristics associated with repayment, and predict creditworthiness of new borrowers. In Ethiopia, we explored introducing fintech that could harness the data that financial institutions are already sitting on. The technology focuses on digitizing hard-copy loan application files of previous borrowers to identify trends and characteristics associated with repayment, and predict creditworthiness of new borrowers. Fintech solutions can viably address the collateral constraint for women borrowers, and can work even in low tech environments. But technology adoption isn’t easy, and assessing the readiness of financial institutions to adopt fintech and embark on technological change is a critical first step.
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Working Paper 116858 JUN 26, 2017
k.org;; 000478170:Rachel Dawn Coleman:rcolemaDisclosed
All over the world, women have less access to credit than men. Because of both discriminatory property laws and unwritten social customs, women are less likely than men to own high-value assets that can be used as collateral to secure loans.
... See More + Financial institutions in developing countries rely on heavy collateral requirements because they don’t have enough information about their borrowers. New technologies - many emerging from financial technology (fintech) startups in the Silicon Valley - have the potential to generate data on borrowers that can replace traditional collateral requirements, and unlock finance for women. In Ethiopia, the authors explored introducing fintech that can harness the data that financial institutions are already sitting on. The technology focuses on digitizing hard-copy loan application files of previous borrowers to identify trends and characteristics associated with repayment, and predict creditworthiness of new borrowers. Fintech solutions can viably address the collateral constraint for women borrowers, and can work even in low tech environments. But technology adoption isn’t easy, and assessing the readiness of financial institutions to adopt fintech and embark on technological change is a critical first step.
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The November 8, 2015 elections in Myanmar marked a historic milestone in the country’s political and economic transition that began in 2011.
... See More + Incoming policy makers are preparing to pick up the baton and deliver on the people’s strong aspirations for a harmonious and prosperous Myanmar. In this series of policy notes, the World Bank Group seeks to promote dialogue on critical development challenges and on options for policies and reforms that can contribute to shared prosperity for the people of Myanmar. The policy notes focus on six interconnected areas that are likely to be high priorities for shared prosperity. The first is on closing the gap in access to social services for improving Myanmar’s human development outcomes. This could help to strengthen the productivity and employability of Myanmar’s current and future labor force, which is the critical input to inclusive growth and a precondition to success in all the other areas. The second policy note is on growing together by reducing poverty in rural areas. Policies to boost agriculture productivity and accelerate the delivery of essential services in rural areas, where they lag the most, could help to supply the much needed labor and food for the rapidly expanding industrial, manufacturing and service sectors.
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Myanmar’s financial system is undergoing a rapid transformation. A history of economic isolation has left Myanmar with small and underdeveloped financial institutions and very low access to financial services.
... See More + Since 2011, however, demands on the financial system have grown exponentially with increased trade and investment, growing household income, and expanding government operations. While recent reforms have stimulated financial sector growth, much more needs to be done to establish a competitive and vibrant financial sector that can meet the needs of Myanmar’s expanding economy, boost incomes, and reduce poverty particularly among those living in rural areas. Increasing access to financial services is critical to achieving shared prosperity in Myanmar.
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In Sub Saharan Africa women are often not protecting their savings through formal devices but instead keeping their savings in more vulnerable savings options.
... See More + After participating in a savings promotion program, women are more likely to save in semi-formal savings options. Participants moved their cash to semi-formal saving options, such as ROSCAs, but did not go as far as moving to regular bank accounts or other formal savings options. The pilot identified subgroups that may be especially receptive for informational savings campaigns. Women who were illiterate or had been robbed or stolen from in the past one and a half years show significant increases in take-up of formal savings options after participating in the program. The savings mobilization program resulted in reallocation rather than accumulation of monetary wealth.
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Low-income consumers stand to benefit greatly from more accessible and affordable digital financial services (DFS) offerings. Indeed, evidence from consumer research in 16 markets analyzed for this paper indicates that customers highly value and benefit from many basic DFS.
... See More + However, many users are not only new to both formal finance and technology, they also live precarious financial lives that allow little room for error. Enabling users to understand and mitigate risks and minimize potential losses when using these new products and services will be critical for DFS to meet users’ expectations and needs and, in turn, achieve sustained financial inclusion. The paper reviews available evidence on DFS consumers’ risk perceptions and experiences, focusing on risks that can cause financial loss or other harm. Its main goal is to advance responsible digital finance by helping the diverse industry actors engaged in DFS delivery better understand which problems are most important from the consumer perspective and motivating them to strengthen risk mitigation practices. The paper analyzes consumer research findings from 16 countries, including surveys and qualitative research in nine countries, four country case studies, and other research. It also presents findings from an initial landscaping study of relevant risk mitigation efforts by FSPs, as well as observed consumer protection regulatory and supervision measures.
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India has ambitious goals to deliver electronic welfare payments, banking services, and digital local government services to each of its 638,000 villages.
... See More + The road is fraught with challenges as about 60 percent of the country's 1.2 billion live in rural areas and many lack connectivity and infrastructure. Moreover, at the policy level, digitizing India's annual 72 billion dollars subsidy machine is a massive task organized across ministries, departments, and 29 state governments. Since 2006, a few state governments have been experimenting with electronic cash transfers via bank accounts, delivered through bank agents. By 2013, the federal government had selected some of the largest cash transfers to shift to an electronic system, and the process is gaining momentum this year with a renewed effort by the newly elected national government.
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This focus note highlights where and how potential benefits can be realized, recognizing there are challenges and risks. Some hold that digital data are not a full substitute for the richness of an in-person interaction to gather data on clients.
... See More + Uses of digital data also raise challenging questions around data privacy and protection. Moreover, it is difficult to predict how use of a clients digital data may change client behavior or sense of privacy. This focus note does not attempt to comprehensively address all questions or risks. Instead, the aim is to sharpen assessments of potential benefits and contribute one piece to a wider assessment of digital data. This focus note draws from three sources. One is case examples of emerging applications. This is combined with interviews with industry experts of varying perspectives. The third source is a deep look at the impact of digital data on costs of delivery from a joint exercise.
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Brief 95202 JAN 01, 2015
Chen,Gregory C.; Faz De Los Santos,Pedro XavierFrench,
JapaneseDisclosed
This focus note highlights where and how potential benefits can be realized, recognizing there are challenges and risks. Some hold that digital data are not a full substitute for the richness of an in-person interaction to gather data on clients.
... See More + Uses of digital data also raise challenging questions around data privacy and protection. Moreover, it is difficult to predict how use of a clients digital data may change client behavior or sense of privacy. This focus note does not attempt to comprehensively address all questions or risks. Instead, the aim is to sharpen assessments of potential benefits and contribute one piece to a wider assessment of digital data. This focus note draws from three sources. One is case examples of emerging applications. This is combined with interviews with industry experts of varying perspectives. The third source is a deep look at the impact of digital data on costs of delivery from a joint exercise.
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Brief 95202 JAN 01, 2015
Chen,Gregory C.; Faz De Los Santos,Pedro XavierFrench,
SpanishDisclosed
This synthesis report, Strategy for revenue improvement for the city of Dakar - September 2013 to July 2014, for Senegal is intended to expose the entire process of improving its savings and having a debt repayment capacity or other forms of financing and should also serve as a reference for further work and in particular the implementation of the recommendations and actions.
... See More + The report has four parts: 1) The objectives and main recommendations of the workshop on 22 and September 23, 2014 and its conclusions; 2) in May 2014 feedback workshop which includes the synthesis of complementary studies; 3) The consequences of the new Code for local authorities in December 2013 for revenues of the City of Dakar; and 4) In conclusion, the main recommendations of the study.
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Digital identity, or electronic identity (eID), offers developing nations a unique opportunity to accelerate the pace of their national progress.
... See More + It changes the way services are delivered, helps grow a country's digital economy, and supports effective safety nets for disadvantaged and impoverished populations. Though digital identity is an opportunity, it raises important considerations with respect to privacy, cost, capacity, and long-term viability. This report provides a strategic view of the role of identification in a country's national development, as well as a tactical view of the building blocks and policy choices needed for setting up eID in a developing country. The report presents a conceptual overview of digital identity management practices, providing a set of guidelines at a national level that policymakers can find helpful as they begin to think about modernizing the identity infrastructure of their country into eID. The report also provides an operating knowledge of the terminology and concepts used in identity management and an exposition of the functional blocks that must be in place. Policy considerations are referenced at the end of the report that governments can use as they contemplate a digital identity program. Given its abridged nature, the report is intended to be insightful and detailed, though not exhaustive. Several important topics related to eID are noted though deserve further discussion, including: economic and financial analysis, the development and setup of a national civil register, and cross-border aspects of eID. The building blocks, as discussed, can help ensure that a secure, robust and reliable digital identity platform can serve the development needs of a country for the foreseeable future.
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The Water and Landscape Integrated Management Program has the objective of applying the resources of the municipalities that integrate the micro regions of the Caparaó, and the hydrographic basins of the Jucu and Santa Maria rivers, which contemplate the main cities of the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória.
... See More + Negative impacts may include: dwellers bothering; interference with public systems; vegetation suppression; degradation of areas and loan deposits; accidents; generation of waste dumps; solid carriage to the rivers. Mitigation measures will include: construction planning and careless procedures and disclosure actions; adequate constructive methods and restitution of the effected vegetation; accidents prevention procedures and construction planning.
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The objective of the Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project for Vietnam is to improve livelihoods of poor households in targeted communes in 26 upland districts of the Central region of Vietnam.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: a) plans for acquisition of land and other assets and provision of rehabilitation measures will be carried out in consultation with the Displaced Persons (DPs,) to ensure minimal disturbance. Entitlements will be provided by DPs prior to expected start-up of works at the respective project site; b) particular attention will go to households that fall within the definition of vulnerable groups. Specific assistance measures will be included in Resettlement Plan (RP); c) replacement residential and agricultural land will be as nearby as possible to the land that was lost, and acceptable to the DPs; d) engage active participation of women in the planning and implementation of the resettlement program as well as other programs; and e) institutional arrangements will ensure effective and timely design, planning, consultation and implementation of RPs.
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The Water and Landscape Integrated Management Program has the objective of applying the resources of the municipalities that integrate the micro regions of the Caparaó, and the hydrographic basins of the Jucu and Santa Maria rivers, which contemplate the main cities of the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória.
... See More + It may lead to the displacement of people and therefore a Resettlement Plan must be prepared to handle the physical displacement of people, the disruption of their income or the loss of their land. The preparation of a resettlement plan is marked by three distinct stages. Step 1 - Data Collection Step 2 - Planning and Development of Policy and Service, Step 3 - Plan of action. Involvement of local community and its leaders is necessary.
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The Water and Landscape Integrated Management Program has the objective of applying the resources of the municipalities that integrate the micro regions of the Caparaó, and the hydrographic basins of the Jucu and Santa Maria rivers, which contemplate the main cities of the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória.
... See More + It may lead to the displacement of people and therefore a Resettlement Plan must be prepared to handle the physical displacement of people, the disruption of their income or the loss of their land. The preparation of a resettlement plan is marked by three distinct stages. Step 1 - Data Collection Step 2 - Planning and Development of Policy and Service, Step 3 - Plan of action. Involvement of local community and its leaders is necessary.
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The objective of this technical note is to evaluate the existing legal, regulatory and institutional framework of financial alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body, for example an ombudsman mechanisms in Bulgaria, and to present the authorities with options for reform and improvement.
... See More + There is a need to further strengthen and reform the existing financial ADR framework in Bulgaria. Fortifying the design and structure of financial ADR mechanisms is an important step to increase currently low levels of consumer trust in financial services. In addition, the implementation of the recently approved European Union (EU) Directive on ADR will require a significant amount of restructuring and reorganization of the existing ADR mechanisms in Bulgaria in order to be compliant with the new required standards. An ADR will not be a success unless consumers can be confident that financial services providers will take part and will follow decisions in favor of the consumer. Bearing in mind the Bulgarian context and the limitations imposed by the Bulgarian constitution, it is recommended to opt for a compulsory and binding ADR structure, but with a possibility to appeal to court. Moreover, financial services providers should bear the first-line responsibility for resolving complaints and be subject to similar complaints handling rules and procedures. In order to be successful, the new arrangements for financial ADR need to command respect from financial services consumers, financial services providers, and the authorities. Where the views of stakeholders currently diverge, some compromise will be necessary in order to create a coherent and workable system.
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The Water and Landscape Integrated Management Program has the objective of applying the resources of the municipalities that integrate the micro regions of the Caparaó, and the hydrographic basins of the Jucu and Santa Maria rivers, which contemplate the main cities of the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória.
... See More + Negative impacts may include: dwellers bothering; interference with public systems; vegetation suppression; degradation of areas and loan deposits; accidents; generation of waste dumps; solid carriage to the rivers. Mitigation measures will include: construction planning and careless procedures and disclosure actions; adequate constructive methods and restitution of the effected vegetation; accidents prevention procedures and construction planning.
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