A recent report by Access to Cash has suggested that cash transactions could fall to just 10% of all payments within the next 15 years. This is not very surprising given thatlast year, debit cards officially overtook notes and coins as the UK’s most popular form of payment.
An efficient financial sector is central to maximizing an economy’s potential by helping it to make optimal and longer-term investments. Developing countries face a chicken and egg dilemma when it comes to financing, because it is hard to have efficient financial services without companies that can make good use of funding. This article examines how practical intervention to build the capacity of financial services through professional training will boost developing countries.
The world’s citizens have always been beset by risks of different types, but the frequency and intensity of risks from a variety of sources are increasing, especially for emerging economies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Insurance is the preferred recourse for those suffering from unfortunate events beyond their control, but even insurance has its limitations. What are the most effective risk-management tools available today?
Experienced investors know that the most lucrative returns can come in the least attractive packages. Frontier markets, the world’s pre-emerging markets, could be the new frontier for high growth—at least for those investors who can look past the higher risks. Is the frontier market worth those risks? Many investors believe it is, which is why the market is only slightly less popular than its developed and emerging counterparts.
President Jair Bolsonaro assumed Brazil’s highest political office on January 1, 2019. From mid-2016 to the end of 2018, a team of experts worked diligently to improve Brazil’s integration with the global economy in such areas as relations with international organizations, domestic framework for officially supported export credits and trade policy. Their initiatives provide the new administration with a strong path to prosperity through reduction of lingering barriers to international inclusion.
For the 28 jurisdictions that are members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, adopting Basel banking standards is a given. But why are some non-member developing countries embracing the reforms when they don’t have to? The answers vary by country, but the final lesson is that regulators should carefully evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of adopting Basel regulations in whole or in part for their nation’s unique situation.
You could be excused for thinking that financial inclusion is a given. In reality, however, this is far from the truth. As illustrated by a recent report by the World Bank, 1.7 billion adults across the world are ‘unbanked’, meaning they do not possess a bank account or have access to formal finance. This situation is not confined to just one part of the world. Whether you live in a developed country or developing region, the unbanked can be found. For example, just 14 percent of adults in the Middle East hold a bank account.
Digitalization has become second nature to many banks around the world, but not all. In the Central European country of Hungary, many banks—and their customers, who are relatively uninformed of the ways going digital can enhance their personal financial management—are in the early stages of the digital banking voyage. The time has arrived for Hungarian banks to jump into the present, or remain behind in the past.
It is true that one person can make a difference, for good or ill, for an entire nation; such was the case in Zimbabwe, once touted as the “breadbasket of Africa”, but after 30 plus years under the iron grip of President Robert Mugabe more aptly known as its economic basket case. There is renewed hope with President Emmerson Mnangagwa installed—but how much can one man do?
Imagine you’re one of the nearly 40 million Tanzanians who live in a rural community. It would most likely take a day of your time and a considerable portion of your earnings just to travel to the nearest brick-and-mortar financial institution.