Author Archives: hannah

Microfinance @ Impactory

Posted on 21. April 2014 by hannah

“Tracing social business models from charity to billion dollar banks” – This was the title of a lunch session at the Impactory in Luxembourg. I joined forces with the Executive Director of LMDF – The Luxemburg Microfinance and Development Fund, … Continue reading →

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What about Zambia?

Posted on 4. April 2014 by hannah

Zambia is one of these countries for me about which I do not know anything. This might be a good thing for an African country since many of them get into the headlines for not so positive things like currency … Continue reading →

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What are the pain points to access to finance in Mozambique?

Posted on 2. April 2014 by hannah

I paid a visit to Mozambique in early February 2014 to conduct a number of interviews with major stakeholders, ie. Banks, telecom operators, microfinance institutions, end-clients such as savings groups, etc. And come up with effective ideas for pilots to … Continue reading →

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Where are we with banking agents?

Posted on 28. February 2014 by hannah

During my time at CGAP (until 2008), I have been the lead researcher on banking agents, their business model, the costs, and benefits, etc. During the last 5 years, I have spent very little time on the topic, but have … Continue reading →

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Kinshasa pricing

Posted on 3. October 2008 by hannah

I had already experienced this in June, but Kinshasa is a surprisingly expensive city. I guess the main reason is the small local production; so many products are being imported primarily from France or Belgium. For some items however, there … Continue reading →

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Kinshasa in tunes…

Posted on 26. September 2008 by hannah

On September 13 2008, I took my flight to Kinshasa …first to Brussels, and then to Kin with a 45-minute stop over in Douala (I must admit that I had been quite uninformed, to say the least, about African geography, … Continue reading →

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Kin la belle

Posted on 19. September 2008 by hannah

I do not know Africa well…or better “at all” since my knowledge is limited to 2 weeks in Lomé, Togo and a few days in Morocco which does not count. Spending the last week here in Kinshasa, listening to Congolese … Continue reading →

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Update on Colombia´s corresponsales bancarios

Posted on 12. August 2008 by hannah

As promised in the last post, here some detailed information on Colombia’s banking agents. Banca de las Oportunidades (BdO), the government entity managing the national financial sector policy, published a presentation in May 2008 on the results of banking agent … Continue reading →

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My publication on banking through retail agents

Posted on 2. August 2008 by hannah

Banking agents, i.e., retail and postal outlets processing financial transactions on behalf of banks, seem to be the theoretic solution to reach new geographies and new client segments with banking services. Low population density with low transaction volumes, and low-income … Continue reading →

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LAC evidence that taxing financial services increases cash in the economy

Posted on 23. July 2008 by hannah

Many already suspected that introducing taxes on financial transactions would prevent poor clients in developing countries to entrust banks and other financial institutions with their often small savings. It was interesting to read in the transcript of a speech by … Continue reading →

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