FINANCE, DATA, AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS FOR AN EQUITABLE WORLD

Highlights

Series - How our areas of work, and the people for whom we work, are contributing to the COVID-19 response

Edited by BFA Global CEO Amolo Ng'weno and Catalyst Fund Head of Learnings and Insights Malika Anand, this dedicated blog series starts with Coco Dong sharing the stories of gig workers in Wuhan, and continues with this post about the Government of Kenya’s quick efforts to promote mobile money. Visit this page regularly for new blogs and join the conversation.

Webinar Recap - First insights from China: The effects of COVID-19 on financial health of MSEs

Did you miss the webinar on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the financial health of micro and small enterprises in China? Watch the recording of the webinar and read related resources here.

Event - Launch of the financial inclusion for refugees (FI4R) project in Uganda

Research set to inform the delivery of financial services for refugees.

Covid-19 Blog - Digital financial transfers can supercharge the response to COVID-19

For the second blog in our #Covid19 rapid response series, our CEO Amolo Ngweno responds to the Government of Kenya's efforts to leverage digital transactions to stem transmission by highlighting the opportunity for digital cash transfers. Such transfers could be a vital source of aid for low-income and gig workers in this difficult time.

Services

We provide an innovative mix of research, insight, and services across a broad range of topics important to our clients, using finance and technology to craft digital solutions at the frontier that empower individuals, organizations, and communities to improve lives and create a more sustainable and equitable world.

Details

Our Portfolio

We leverage the opportunities created by a rapidly digitizing global economy, deploying our unique multi-disciplinary, nimble, client-centric approach to execute a range of projects combining financial tools, user-centered design, information, policy, and technology to characterize their challenges and design responses.

The RegTech for Regulators Accelerator

In the increasingly complex and digital financial world, the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R2A) partners with global standard setting bodies, leading financial sector authorities, and tech vendors across the globe to unlock the potential of new technologies and data science to re-engineer market supervision, regulation and policy analysis.

FinnSalud

The FinnSalud Project will develop a set of standards together with a measurement tool that will help better align consumer financial health with provider ROI, ensuring that financial products and channels are designed in a way that enhances the financial health of both customers and financial actors.

The FIBR Project

The Financial Inclusion on Business Runways (FIBR) Project, a partnership between BFA Global and Mastercard Foundation in Africa, was created with the vision to digitize the informal economy through micro and small enterprises (MSEs) using smartphones.

The OPTIX Project

BFA Global, MetLife Foundation, and RPA co-created the OPTIX project in 2015 to help financial institutions better understand the lives and needs of low-income customers and offer a portfolio of products and tools that improve their financial health. Financial institutions worldwide are striving to tailor solutions that improve the lives of low-income households and also make good business sense.

China: Helping Aggregators Reduce Greater Exclusion (CHARGE Phase 1)

Working with a local partner to design feasible aggregators models to help financially excluded customers in China to use financial services provided by superplatforms. We worked with the Chinese Academy of Financial Inclusion (CAFI) to design and establish local aggregator models in the next 2.5 years to help 200,000 financially excluded customers to gain access to financial services provided by the superplatforms.

Catalyst Fund

Catalyst Fund is a global inclusive fintech accelerator supporting early-stage startups who are building innovative solutions designed to reach the world's 3 billion underserved.

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Improving Financial Health of Low-Income People

The Optix Project in Bangladesh, Mexico, and Vietnam

Read the Focus Note

Insights

How Financial Health Is Transforming BFA Global’s Work in 2020

This post was co-authored by Ashirul Amin and Benjamin Mazzotta Genesis of Financial Health as a Concept Financial health (FH) has become a core topic in the financial inclusion industry, and at BFA Global we believe it represents a … Continue reading →

How financial institutions can deliver payment flexibility using lessons from PAYGo solar

Technology-enabled pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) has unlocked millions of loans in the off-grid solar sector, and the model is already being extended to a range of other assets: motorcycles, refrigerators, water pumps, micro-irrigation systems, LPG cooking, smartphones, and more. As the PAYGo … Continue reading →

iWorkers: How digital changes the nature of informality in Africa

The defining characteristic of most work in Africa is its informality: according to the ILO, 85% is done in the household, in smallholder agriculture or in unregistered businesses of all sizes. So, why is that a problem? First, let’s dismiss … Continue reading →

Why our money is on this Brazilian female fintech founder: meet Monica of Grão

This post was co-authored by Malika Anand and Thea Sokolowski. A former securities broker and two-time entrepreneur, Monica Saccarelli was the first female partner at Brazilian brokerage house Link Investimentos. Today, she is CEO of savings platform … Continue reading →