Greg Chen

Gregory Chen served as CGAP’s Policy team lead through October 2021. The team helps policy makers adapt to the fast-changing world of digital finance, including developing and executing a strategy to engage multiple countries, regions, and global bodies—and oversight of the work of more than a dozen staff and consultants.

Gregory has 25 years of financial inclusion experience and deep regional experience in South Asia. His work has focused on hands-on start-up pioneer microfinance institutions, digital finance players, and FinTech. He has been part of forging new institutions and regulatory environments to support financial sectors. This includes work with the Aga Khan Development Network, BRAC, Telenor, and Dvara. He also has experience as a corporate banker at Bank of America and led the establishment of the financial services consulting firm Enclude in South Asia.

Gregory is a frequent speaker and lecturer on microfinance and digital finance in academic circles at BRAC University, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Yale, and American University. He has been interviewed by BBC and quoted in the Economist. He has a Master’s degree in International Development from Harvard’s Kennedy School and an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University.

By Greg Chen

Research

Indian Microfinance Goes Public: The SKS Initial Public Offering

On 28 July 2010 SKS, India’s largest microfinance institution (MFI) with 5.8 million clients, became the first MFI in India to float its shares through an initial public offering (IPO).
Blog

What Should We Look for with the SKS IPO?

The most important and contentious issues about the IPO will take more time for us all to weigh carefully. It will be particularly important to see how the proceeds of several Mutual Benefit Trusts are used given the philanthropic purpose for which these MBTs were first created.
Research

Growth and Vulnerabilities in Microfinance

This Focus Note distills lessons from four microfinance markets: Nicaragua, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Pakistan. These countries have all experienced a microfinance repayment crisis after a period of high growth and are important microfinance markets in their respective regions.
Research

The Challenge of Growth for Microfinance:The BancoSol Experience

This note focuses on the financial and management challenges MFIs face as they grow and formalize.