What's New and What's Next

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New: Blog | From Research to Reality: Insights from Consumer Protection Workshops in Sub-Saharan Africa

Over the past three years, IPA has funded more than 20 consumer protection studies on fraud, redress, pricing transparency, and debt stress. Throughout the first round of this initiative, we have worked closely with regulators and policymakers. But this past spring was the first time we took our research on the road to Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria. Working with our teams in these countries, we hosted in-person workshops, where we shared the wide-ranging package of consumer protection research methods and results from the initiative. What are the most pressing consumer protection risks in these markets? And how did participants think we could resolve them? Read more in our recent blog on the workshops.

New: Project Update | Launch of the Transaction Cost Index Results

What are the true costs of using digital financial services? And how do we systematically measure, and monitor these costs? IPA’s Transaction Cost Index (TCI) attempts to answer these very questions. Our year one report provides insights on a comparison of prices across 16 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and fieldwork that explores hidden costs in Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Uganda. Learn more about the TCI here and while you’re there, check out our new blog, watch our recent webinar, and use the new interactive dashboard.

Do you want to know how mobile money costs stack up in your country? Do you have ideas on how these costs should be measured, or how to make mobile money more affordable? We’d love to hear from you!

New: Webinar | Inclusive Futures: Digital Financial Inclusion to Achieve the SDGs

How is digital financial inclusion progressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Find out more in IPA’s recent webinar with the World Bank and Better Than Cash Alliance, with a focus on Gender Equality (SDG 5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), and Climate Action (SDG 13). The webinar featured researchers and policymakers and highlighted achievements, lessons learned, and new ideas for catalyzing faster progress.

New: CPRI’s First Journal Publication!

The Consumer Protection Research Initiative (CPRI) is coming up on its four-year anniversary! While we have featured this study in the past, “Can you spot a scam? Measuring and improving scam identification ability,” we are celebrating our first CPRI study that has been published in the Journal of Development Economics. You can read the publication here (open access version), and learn more about measuring scam identification ability of consumers.

New: Conference | IPA & GPRL’s 2023 Researcher Gathering

From October 12-14, IPA and the Global Poverty Research Lab hosted their 2023 Researcher Gathering, which brings together researchers from across the world to present ongoing and recently completed research on research methods, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and social protection. Across three days, we were joined by more than 60 presenters. Thank you to everyone who attended!

Next: Conference | Global Congress 2023 to Unite Leaders in Kenya and Build a Resilient Future for Consumers

Every four years Consumers International’s Global Congress brings together the consumer movement and leading cross-sector influencers to tackle pressing issues impacting consumers worldwide. This year, the Global Congress will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from December 6-8. The Congress will focus on developing practical solutions and ensuring that consumers are integral members of these solutions.

What We've Been Reading

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Recap | Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) 2023: October 16-19 was Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) 2023, which is a forum hosted by the Center for Financial Inclusion. This year, FIW asked the question: Is inclusive finance ready for the accelerating pace of change? From artificial intelligence to more common climate-related disasters, our world is constantly changing. If managed well, inclusive financial services can help individuals navigate these changes, and the innovations could lead to more inclusion rather than exclusion. Virtual panels hosted during FIW discussed whether or now we are prepared and what steps need to be taken. If you missed the live sessions, check out these live illustrations that summarize what was discussed.

Article | A Chatbot Named BOB and Other Consumer Protection Measures in the Philippines: A new chatbot, introduced by the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP), is being used to update regulations and better protect Filipino consumers. This chatbot, named BOB or BSP Online Buddy, puts consumers’ interests and welfare at the front and center of policymaking and regulation. Learn more here about how BOB uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology to handle consumer complaints and consumer protection. IPA also worked with BSP to analyze the first year of BOB interactions, which you can read about here.

Brief | Equitable AI for Inclusive Finance: How can artificial intelligence (AI) be used to create more inclusive finance? And are there potential risks, especially for women? A new brief from the Center for Financial Inclusion covers it all. The brief also provides a snapshot of the state of practice in bias identification and mitigation and then provides a user-friendly checklist with an actionable set of questions to help impact investors understand the use of AI among their investee companies.

Report | The Global State of Financial Inclusion & Consumer Protection: A new report from the World Bank outlines the key findings on the global state of financial inclusion and consumer protection. It also provides a source of global data to benchmark efforts by financial sector authorities to improve the enabling environment for financial inclusion and consumer protection.

Technical Guide | Digital Financial Services for Financial Inclusion: Tools for Supervisors: Are you a digital financial services (DFS) provider in a developing country? Then check out this new technical guide from CGAP. This guide aims to help supervisory authorities in developing countries where DFS are vital for financial inclusion. The guide provides practical guidance on the design and implementation of a risk-based supervisory approach focused. Chock-full of examples and additional readings, this guide provides supervisors with everything they need to improve their risk-based supervisory approach to DFS.

Report | Financial Consumer Protection | An Interim Research Report: Dvara’s interim report highlights their ongoing work through the Centre for Consumer Protection in India. Some of their new projects tackle topics like consumer consent, the effectiveness of fraud awareness campaigns, debt distress, information asymmetry, and monitoring and diagnostic tools.

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