Financial Inclusion: Middle East & Africa

These regions contain some of the world’s most underbanked populations but technology is fronting the drive for change. Plus: interview with the World Bank on expanding financial services; cash culture prevails in north Africa; fintech and financial inclusion in Iraq; Kenya pushes to shift mobile money to the next level

No end to poverty without financial inclusion, says World Bank
Finance in developing countries has to be expanded carefully, says a senior official
Pioneering Kenya eyes next stage of mobile money
Fintech aims to tackle a fragmented farming sector and help solve bigger economic problems
Banks use fintech to make up for lost time on financial inclusion
Institutions are investing in a bid to reach ‘unbanked’ groups in Africa and the Middle East
Cash culture drags on financial inclusion efforts in north Africa
A distrust of banks is slowing efforts in some countries to bring digital banking to the masses
Iraq’s financial inclusion drive boosted by homegrown fintech
An electronic payments system disburses government salaries and welfare to some 7m citizens
How developing nations use tech to reach the ‘underbanked’
Lenders in Africa and the Middle East circumvent weak digital infrastructure to make progress