Fintech is increasingly recognized as a key enabler for financial sectors worldwide, enabling more efficient and competitive financial markets while expanding access to finance for traditionally underserved consumers. A critical challenge for policy makers is to harness the benefits and...

Open banking schemes provide consumers with more choice and new financial products and services through the use of technology, particularly application programing interfaces (API's). The main objective of this paper is to provide guidance on how to implement consumer consent protocols to access...

Though Vietnam has made impressive progress in providing widespread access to basic social services, the quantity and quality of the country's social service provision have shown signs of deterioration within the last two decades. This paper examines the changing role of the public sector in...

This discussion paper constructs a consistent, nationwide poverty profile of Cambodia to support the government's effort to strengthen the design of poverty reduction policies. Basic data are given on the level and distribution of living standards as measured by per capita household consumption...

Despite impressive success in improving living conditions in many Caribbean countries, poverty still persists throughout the region. This study seeks to improve our understanding of poverty in the Caribbean and the current efforts to address it. It analyzes the causes and characteristics of...

Comparison between Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and East Asia indicates that gender inequality in education and employment is estimated to have reduced SSA's per capita growth in the 1960-92 period by 0.8 percentage points per year. Therefore reducing gender-based asset inequality in SSA is an...

This report analyzes the evolution of poverty and inequality in the LAC region from 1986 to 1996 with projections to 1998. It reviews the policies which have been advocated or implemented to reduce poverty. The report combines the results of new empirical work using household surveys from 12...

In this paper we attempt to answer three questions. Using conventional indicators as a guide what are Bangladesh's prospects in sharply accelerating growth? What lessons can be derived from the experience of East Asian countries especially with repect to nonfarm development? Can these lessons be...

This report consists of a collection of essays on extreme poverty. The first part of the report deals with what it means to live in extreme poverty, how to reach the very poor, through programs, and interventions, and how to make private, and public institutions more responsive to their...