Financial innovation in the form of new delivery channels, products, and providers has helped push out the frontier of access to finance and thus increase the bankable and banked population. Mobile money and crowdfunding platforms are prime examples for this. The same financial innovation has...

This paper surveys existing literature and data to take stock of the current state of banking systems across Sub-Saharan Africa. It documents different dimensions of the development of the banking systems in the region and compares Africa's banking systems to those of comparable low- and...

This paper assesses whether there is a gender gap in the use of financial services by businesses and individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors do not find evidence of gender discrimination or lower inherent demand for financial services by enterprises with female ownership participation or...

Combining two unique data sets, this paper explores the relationship between the relative importance of different financial institutions and their average size and firms' access to financial services. Specifically, the authors explore the relationship between the share in total financial assets...

Financing Africa: through the crisis and beyond is a call to arms for a new approach to Africa's financial sector development. First, policy makers should focus on increasing competition within and outside the banking sector to foster innovation. This implies a more open regulatory mindset,...

This Note explores the relationship between the size of the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) sector and economic growth and poverty reduction. A new study finds no support for the widely held belief that SMEs promote higher growth and lower pover ty. But it does provide some support for...

The authors use survey data on a sample of over 10,000 firms from 80 countries to assess (1) how successful a priori classifications are in distinguishing between financially constrained and unconstrained firms, and (2) more generally, the determinants of financing obstacles of firms. They find...

Information from 209 banks in 62 countries is used to develop new indicators of barriers to banking services around the world, show their correlation with measures of outreach, and explore their association with bank and country characteristics suggested by theory as potential determinants....

This paper presents data on 76 partial credit guarantee schemes across 46 developed and developing countries. Based on theory, we discuss different organizational features of credit guarantee schemes and their variation across countries. We focus on the respective role of government and private...

This paper is organized as follows: Chapter 1 Introduction. Chapter 2 investigates the extent to which the supply of banking services has increased or diminished over time, and also analyzes factors underlying the spatial distribution of banking services, and the relative roles of public and...