Financial Inclusion Archives - Karandaaz Pakistan

Pakistan's Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion

Feb 22, 2023

Digital Banks - Optimizing the Focus on Financial Inclusion and Innovation

Feb 7, 2022

The Licensing and Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks unveiled by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in January 2022 not only heralds a firm resolution by the central bank to shake up Pakistan’s banking industry

Financial Inclusion and the Increasing Gender Disparity

Apr 12, 2021

hashim-sohail

Challenge Funds - The Karandaaz Experience

Mar 29, 2021

hussam-razi

Karandaaz has run 10 rounds of challenge funds in Pakistan, and some of the findings provide valuable insights that are worth sharing.

Narrowing the gender gap through Digital interventions

Dec 8, 2020

amna

With a vision statement of “financially included, economically empowered Pakistanis” Karandaaz Pakistan, through all of its four verticals i.e., Capital, Digital, Innovation and Research; is working to develop and promote an all-inclusive and a conducive financial environment and accords great importance to equal provision of financial services to women.

Businesses in Pakistan and Their Access to Financial Services

Jun 29, 2020

gallup-pakistan

Businesses, large or small, are an important part of any society and fulfil various needs and functions. On one hand, they provide livelihood and employment to owners and workers, and on the other hand, they produce and distribute essential goods without which populations may not thrive.

Determinants of and Detriments to Financial Inclusion in Pakistan

Feb 12, 2020

gallup-pakistan

Access to financial services has been a subject of increasing policy debate in developing countries. Financial inclusion is important as it reduces poverty and inequality, allows poor people to smooth out their consumption and invest in their futures through education and health.

Financial Inclusion: Demand Side Surveys and Definitional Issues in Pakistan

Dec 24, 2019

gallup-pakistan

Digital finance and financial inclusion offer several benefits not only to financial services users but also to digital finance providers, governments and the economy at large as well.

Leveraging Telecommunication Services for Financial Inclusion

Jul 4, 2018

ali-akbar

Donors and policymakers in developing countries have placed a key focus on Financial Inclusion in the development policy agenda.

API's for Financial Inclusion

Oct 5, 2017

bilal-ali-qureshi

API’s have become imperative for organisations to provide more efficient services to their respective customers, read to find out how.

Importance of digital transformation of conventional players in the financial inclusion landscape of Pakistan

May 31, 2017

bilal-ali-qureshi

In Pakistan formal financial services are traditionally being provided by banks and other financial institutions mandated by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The Need for a Changing Regulatory Landscape for Digital Financial Services

Apr 22, 2017

hussam-razi

GSMA’s recent report titled ‘The Mobile Economy’ for 2017 has undertaken a comprehensive scan of the global telecommunications landscape. Given the direct impact of telecommunications on digital financial services (DFS), increase in mobile subscribers presents a growing opportunity for increasing the footprint of DFS.

Creating Social Impact Using Supply Chain Finance - A Case Study of Unlocking Access to Low Cost Fertilizer in Pakistan's Agri Value Chain

Feb 14, 2017

huma-khalid

Innovative supply chain financing presents an unprecedented opportunity to disrupt traditional SME banking credit models, and, improve the livelihoods of millions of people in emerging markets.

Contextualizing P2G within an E-Government Approach

Dec 22, 2016

sabahat-iqbal

The Central Bank of Jordan and the Indian State of Karnataka have been developing their person-to-government (P2G) payment channels and instruments within larger e-government initiatives.

Good Intentions: Why What You Measure in Financial Inclusion is So Important to the Outcomes You Achieve

Oct 31, 2016

insight2impact

Financial inclusion is increasingly recognised as a policy instrument to deliver on policy objectives such as welfare, health outcomes and food security. In fact, it is deemed so important that the recently published in SDGs include equal access to financial services for all people as one of the goals to ending poverty.

Adoption - The Bottleneck in Scaling Mobile Financial Inclusion

Aug 31, 2016

hussam-razi

The second edition of The Brookings Institute’s Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report presents findings on financial access and usage from a diverse set of 26 countries. The publication is built around a scorecard generated using four composite indicators: country commitment, mobile capacity and regulatory environment.

Using Big Data to Extend Loans to the Unbanked

Jul 21, 2016

imran-khan

In economics, the process of managing income shortfalls is known as “consumption smoothing” and loans along with savings are the two options used to manage such shortfalls. In the absence of sufficient savings, the availability of loans is crucial to meet expenses.

Using HCD to Develop User Friendly Apps and Interfaces

Jun 2, 2016

bilal-ali-qureshi

Karandaaz Pakistan commissioned GRID Impact, a global research, innovation and design firm, to develop concept designs for a smart phone application for mobile money. With 8.7% of adult Pakistanis reportedly having an account at a financial institution.

The State Bank's New Regulations for Prepaid Cards

May 12, 2016

william-cook

Karandaaz Pakistan published a blog post on the use of prepaid cards in Pakistan. Among the needs discussed was a clear framework for the KYC requirements governing Pakistan’s prepaid market. That regulation arrived earlier this week.

What is Human-Centered Design?

May 4, 2016

sabahat-iqbal

Human-centered design (HCD) is a methodology that has existed for a while but began to resemble its current form in the early 1990s. More recently, the development sector has begun to adopt it in various sectors including the field of financial inclusion.

Prepaid Cards and The Unbanked

Apr 27, 2016

william-cook

Borrow a relative’s credit card. Have a friend pay. For those excluded from the formal financial system, paying online is more often a matter of finding the right proxy than finding the right tool. Innovations such as mobile wallets continue to expand access to electronic payments.

Deploying Basic Banking Accounts: Lessons from India and South Africa

Apr 19, 2016

sabahat-iqbal

No-frills - or basic bank accounts - are another tool in the arsenal of central banks and financial service providers that are interested in promoting universal financial inclusion. They traditionally have two defining characteristics.

Using Digital Financial Services to Bridge the Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion

Apr 12, 2016

samar-hasan

Despite encouraging advancements in the number of first time bank account holders, a startling gender gap persists in financial inclusion as a result of a variety of barriers to access across the developing world.

Lessons When Embarking on the Road Towards Universal Financial Inclusion

Feb 24, 2016

naeha-rashid

According to the Global Microscope 2015, Pakistan currently has one of the top five most enabling financial inclusion environments in the world. In the coming months it will be interesting to see how this environment impacts the nation’s financial inclusion progress.

Takeaways from Pakistan's Access to Finance Survey 2015

Feb 11, 2016

payam-akram

According to the Access to Finance Survey 2015, access and usage of financial services has markedly increased in Pakistan since 2008. The recently released survey was commissioned by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Evaluating the Impact of Inclusion: The Macroeconomic Picture

Dec 29, 2015

naeha-rashid

Recently we wrote about the transformative effects of financial inclusion at the microeconomic level. We concluded that the use of each financial inclusion instrument leads to varying positive outcomes.

Drawing Inspiration from DFS Innovations:Part I

Dec 21, 2015

sabahat-iqbal

The launch of M-Pesa in 2008 and its subsequent exponential growth heralded a new era of digital financial inclusion: one which promises to bring the unbanked and underbanked into the formal financial sector. A definition of digital financial inclusion is digital access to and use of formal financial services by excluded and underserved populations.

The Promise of Mobile Money in Pakistan

Dec 17, 2015

naeha-rashid

The penetration of traditional financial service delivery channels in Pakistan is low in comparison to the global average. There are approximately 6 ATMs and 9 commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults in the country versus the global average of approximately 34 ATMs and 12 commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults (World Bank, 2013).

Evaluating the Impact of Inclusion: The Microeconomic Picture

Dec 15, 2015

naeha-rashid

Included in the targets of 7 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that were finalized in 2015, financial inclusion is seen as both a key solution to some of the most pressing development problems that our world faces today, and a core development goal in its own right.

Interpreting the Financial Inclusion Numbers in Pakistan

Dec 10, 2015

naeha-rashid

Financial inclusion in Pakistan has improved slowly but steadily since 2008 according to most sources. This observation is based upon one topline indicator - percentage of the adult population that is financially included - which is calculated by three different institutions in Pakistan.

Addressing the Limits of Informal Financing

Dec 7, 2015

naeha-rashid

In 2014 2 billion people in the world didn’t have an account at a financial institution. While this number represents a 20% decrease in the unbanked population since 2011, globally a significant number of individuals still remain outside the formal financial sector.