Data Sources for Digital Financial Inclusion Research

To encourage robust research across disciplines, the Tech for Good Institute is releasing a compendium of data sources for key topics of inquiry in the digital economy. This is the first of the series, to raise awareness of publicly-available global databases in the areas of financial inclusion and fintech.

In Southeast Asia, financial inclusion and fintech underpin Southeast Asia’s economic progress. Data on both are available, but often incomplete. Some data sources, especially in the fintech space, are also limited in coverage. Many are conducted on a one-off basis, precluding comparisons over time.

Building on our existing Digital Financial Service Report, this Digital Financial Inclusion compendium collates and reviews databases useful in financial inclusion research. The intention of this effort is to be a resource to researchers navigating the landscape of available data sources.

The compendium includes: 

Financial inclusion research will continue to evolve. Thus, this effort serves merely as a starting point for researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders who are interested in this area. We welcome recommendations of other data sources relevant to this topic, as well as suggestions for other fields of interest at the intersection of technology, policy and society.

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Dr Ming Tan

Founding Executive Director

Dr Ming Tan is founding Executive Director for the Tech for Good Institute. She is concurrently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore. Her research interests lie at the intersection of technology, business and society, including sustainability and innovation.

 

Ming was previously Managing Director of IPOS International, part of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, which supports Singapore’s future growth as a global innovation hub for intellectual property creation, commercialisation and management.

 

Prior to joining the public sector, she was Head of Stewardship of the COMO Group, a Singaporean portfolio of lifestyle companies operating in 14 countries worldwide. Her portfolio covered sustainability, brand and data privacy. She was concurrently the founding Executive Director of COMO Foundation, the private philanthropy of the owner of the COMO Group.

 

As a company director, she lends brand and strategic guidance to SuperNature Pte Ltd, COMO Hotels and Resorts (Asia) Pte Ltd, COMO Club Pte Ltd, and Mogems Pte Ltd. In the not-for-profit space, Ming is an Advisor to Singapore Totalisator Board and serves on the boards of Esplanade–Theatres on the Bay, Singapore’s national performing arts centre, St. Joseph’s Institution International and COMO Foundation.

 

As part of her commitment to holistic education and the arts, she also sits on the Advisory Panel of the Centre for the Arts of the National University of Singapore.

 

Ming was educated in Singapore, the United States, and England. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University and her doctorate from Oxford.