In late 2015, Finnish fintech Moni was about to launch a MasterCard prepaid card programme when it was contacted by the Finnish Immigration Services. Some 35,000 refugees had arrived in Finland that year, compared to 3,400 in 2014. They needed a very quick solution to a large problem – how were they going to get the €93 of cash assistance a month safely and efficiently to each of the new arrivals who were spread out in schools, conference centres and reception centres around the...

There are an estimated 450 million to 500 million smallholder farmers in the world, with as many as 2 billion people living in smallholder farm households. They are one of the world’s most vulnerable groups; often at the mercy of unpredictable weather events, with limited access to infrastructure or support and little in the way of financial tools to help them mitigate risk. According to a report from Dalberg Global Development Advisors, credit provided by informal and formal financial...