The 2017 edition of the Global Findex includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. And it adds new data on the use of financial technology (fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the internet to conduct financial transactions.
This Focus Note by Marissa Dean and the supported by the Mastercard Foundation summarizes how 30 leading organizations across Kenya and Tanzania are thinking about or actively using big data and analytics as they explore this space in digital finance. The findings are based on interviews with these organizations—which include banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), mobile network operators (MNOs), and FinTech organizations (listed in Appendix: Research Approach)—conducted between August and September 2017.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the results of the eighth annual Financial Access Survey (FAS). The FAS collects annual data on indicators tracking financial access—an important pillar of financial inclusion. It provides insights on the availability and use of financial products such as consumer and firm deposit accounts, loans, and insurance policies across the globe. The information is based on administrative data collected from both traditional (e.g., commercial banks or other deposit-taking institutions) and digital (e.g., mobile money) financial service providers.
The 2017 edition of CGAP’s annual Cross-Border Funder Survey reports funding commitments from the 23 largest international funders of financial inclusion, representing 80 percent of the full set of over 54 international funders and 73 percent of the global estimated funding commitments for financial inclusion in 2016.
Major project themes in 2016 included:
The SAP Business Partnership Study shows that three out of four small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) see IT and technology vendors not just as an external resource but as vital to their business.
More and more technology vendors are being used by business leaders for consultation (76 percent), for insight and advice (79 percent) and to anticipate needs and risks (76 percent).
Findings from the second edition of the SME Financing Survey conducted by SPRING Singapore, revealed that about 13% of SMEs sought external financing in the past year and out of these, 90% that applied for debt financing1 were successful in their applications.
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), jointly created a survey with the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets a survey to compare how approaches to SME boards have varied across countries. The evidence-based research compiled data such as:
PayPal conducted research in hopes give more small businesses to digital finance and inspire both owners and policymakers in supporting growth for SMEs in the U.S. This research found that SMEs PayPal users grew from 2015-2016 by 22.9 percent. Of these, less than five percent export. Women-owned small businesses grew and export at about 72 percent.
Personal financial advisors have a 58 percent chance of computerization in the future, according to recent data on the probability of computerization. According to Carl Frey and Michael Osborne, financial advisors should be able to escape the rise of automation and artificial intelligence with jobs intact.
The data also shows that insurance underwriters have 99 percent chance of future automation in the position. Loan officers and credit analysts, meanwhile, have a 98 percent chance of computerization.
New analysis provides a glimpse of the future as countries like China pave the way for a whole new system of banking. China is seeing an “explosive growth of mobile payments. With a record $12.8 trillion in mobile payment transactions from January – October 2017, China far surpasses the U.S. at only $49.3 billion,” according to data.
Dana Nino, an executive vice president at Geoswift, a Hong Kong payments firm said, “banks need to be aware that there’s a different model spreading...it’s the platform that gets the direct data from purchases, not the bank.”
