In 2010, over 92 percent of the assets in the Nicaraguan financial system were concentrated in the banking sector, while microfinance managed over 5 percent, and all the remaining segments covered less than 3 percent. Starting in the late 1990s and until 2007, the microfinance sector in...

Access to basic services plays an important role in both individual well-being and a country's economic development. For this reason, general availability of these services to citizens, regardless of income level and geographical location, has generally been viewed as an important public policy...

Fintech is transforming the global financial landscape. It is creating new opportunities to advance financial inclusion and development in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs), but also presents risks that require updated supervision policy frameworks. Fintech encompasses new...

This note provides: (1) an overview of new manifestations of consumer risks that are significant and cross-cutting across four key fintech products: digital microcredit, P2PL, investment-based crowdfunding, and e-money; and (2) examples of emerging regulatory approaches to target such risks....

This report on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regulation addresses the consequences of these regulations on low-income people. The introduction of new or tightened AML/CFT regulations may have the unintended and undesirable consequence of reducing the...

This paper discusses the role of the postal network in expanding access to financial services in Egypt. It reviews the public postal operator within the postal sector and within the broader context of the communications sector. The roles of the postal network and state and privately-owned banks...

The present document is the assessment of systemically important financial market infrastructures in Malaysia based on the Committee for Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs)....

The Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios - Brazil Securities Commission (CVM) has made substantial progress since the 2002 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). In 2002 the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) assessment rated 8 principles fully implemented and 22...

The present document is the assessment of the systemically important payment systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) based on the CPSS Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems (CPSIPS). The document also contains an analysis of some developmental issues related to the...

The regulatory framework for securities markets in Nigeria has improved markedly since the 2002 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), and particularly in the last five years. Since the adoption of the Investments and Securities Act 2007 (ISA) and the first set of rules and regulations of...