the mif blog

Sonja E. Kelly, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion & Sergio Navajas, Multilateral Investment Fund, Inter-American Development Bank

Financial institutions of all sizes around the world are joining the digital revolution. In our work and research at the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion and the Inter-American Development Bank we have seen some best cases of institutions shifting toward digital as well as some failures. At the end of this month we’ll be discussing strategies to pursue digital innovation as part of the Foromic in Buenos Aires. (Join us for our session on Tuesday, October 31st at 11:15 am!) In the meantime, for institutions that want to start down the path of digital innovation, here are a few of our top strategy suggestions.

I am fascinated by debt: the advance of cash today against the mere promise of payment in the future.  A promise that depends crucially on trust and knowing who the borrower is. For that, financial institutions rely mainly on credit bureaus. But not every country has a perfectly functioning credit bureau, in which case access to credit suffers.

Large-scale affordable housing projects, wind farms, and small-scale diagnostic health clinics are just some examples of the wave of impact enterprises that have been emerging over the last decade, seeking to address social and environmental needs in addition to making profits. The unique characteristic of these impact enterprises is the expectation of a net positive social or environmental benefit, whether through their product or service, or in the way they create value for the communities they serve. Some may be extremely profitable; others may more closely resemble nonprofit organizations. What most of them share is a difficulty in finding capital that aligns to their needs and enables their growth.