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...

Government leaders around the world are designing national strategies to improve financial inclusion for populations traditionally excluded from the financial markets. Financial literacy is a key tool being used to bring economically vulnerable populations into the financial mainstream. Data...

Globally, 1.7 billion adults still lack access to formal financial services, with a large percentage living in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Current financial inclusion strategies provide these vulnerable populations with access to a wide array of financial services that aim to build more...

In this paper, we present two stylized models of the financial system. We make the case that in order to realize the potential of a well-functioning complete financial market, financial system designers and financial service providers will need to think about ways to deliver financial...

This paper assesses the case for promoting financial education in Asia. It argues that the benefits of investing in financial education can be substantial. Data are limited, but indicate low financial literacy scores for selected Asian countries. As economies develop, access to financial...

This paper examines the current situation concerning financial inclusion and financial literacy in Kazakhstan and future prospects. Since 2000, the financial sector has been developing rapidly, driven by petrodollars, which has led to higher financial inclusion. However, the improvement in...

This paper discusses the status of financial inclusion, education, and literacy in Azerbaijan as well as measures to foster the development of SMEs, which currently have inadequate access to financial resources. The primary policy challenge faced by the government of Azerbaijan is defining its...

Pension assets have seen rapid growth world-wide over the past decades, although they suffered large losses during the global financial crisis of 2007 - 2008. Such growth is notably due to both structural and parametric pension reforms since the 1980s. In the Asian region too, the pension market...

This study evaluates infrastructure investment and finance in Asia from a global perspective. It provides an overview on infrastructure needs and the various sources of private finance, globally and within Asia, and creates a "bigger picture" for the demand and supply of capital for...

Access to credit is still one of the greatest obstacles to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Viet Nam, and, to date, only 39% of SMEs have bank loans. SMEs' loans account for 22% of the total bank lending for the overall economy, whereas SMEs constitute 97% of the total...