Searching: Blogs

How Did Bancolombia Create a Successful Rural Agent Network at Scale?

Bancolombia is a great example of a provider that's been successful in developing rural agent business models at scale, therefore playing a critical role in furthering financial inclusion. Here, we look at the factors that explain their success.

Can Disruptive Innovation Favor Financial Inclusion in Côte d’Ivoire?

Côte d'Ivoire's mobile money market is an excellent opportunity to reflect on whether market disruptions contribute to financial inclusion, given a recent revamp of mobile money business models in the country.

Financial Inclusion-Friendly G2P: Recommendations for Stakeholders

G2P transfer experiments during the COVID-19 pandemic collectively demonstrate the importance of “financial inclusion (FI)-friendly” G2P - intentional architecting and implementation that support active DFS usage beyond an initial payment.

Kickstarting CICO Rural Agent Network Innovation: 5 Tips for Funders

Based on pilots in five countries (Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Indonesia, Morocco and Pakistan), we share early insights on how funders can engage with stakeholders in Cash-in Cash-out (CICO) rural agent networks to kickstart innovation.

Findex and G2P: Are Transfers Translating to Inclusion at Scale?

Governments are enrolling the unbanked into the formal financial system at scale in EMDEs, primarily to facilitate government-to-person (G2P) payments, but do all these accounts with funds flowing into them amount to financial inclusion? Not yet.

Why Do CICO Agent Networks Matter and How Do We Promote Them?

More than a decade since the rise of digital finance, cash remains popular and the ability for people to move cash in and out of digital systems is still vital to financial inclusion. How can agent networks be expanded to fill this need?

Are Funders up to the Challenge of Building Rural Agent Networks?

Agent networks are crucial for advancing financial inclusion and other development goals. Here are six ways funders can encourage the expansion of agent networks in rural areas home to many of the world's low-income populations.

Rural Agent Networks: An Opportunity for Development Funders

Agent networks serve an important role in delivering digital financial services in rural areas, and they present an opportunity for funders to achieve development goals.

Channeling Women’s Potential to Strengthen Last-Mile Agent Networks

In analyzing how to extend the reach and quality of rural cash in/cash out agent networks, we have come to realize that it is critical to apply a gender lens to identify key barriers for women. Here are three basic steps to do so.

The Benefits of G2P Choice: Zambia Leads the Way

In 2017, Zambia introduced a government-to-person (G2P) payments model that lets beneficiaries choose the provider they want to use to receive their payment. Today, the benefits to the recipients, providers and government are clear.

COVID-19: A Trigger to Enhance Rural Agent Networks

COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of rural agent networks in reaching people with badly needed assistance. But the crisis has also exposed agents' vulnerabilities.

Let Her Choose: Supercharging G2P for Women

Government-to-person (G2P) programs can reach millions of women. What if instead of requiring women to receive payments from a single provider, they enabled women to select among several options and to reward good service with their business?

How Is the Pandemic Affecting Agents? Here’s What Providers Tell Us

As customers, agents and digital financial services providers adjust to COVID-19, it’s becoming clearer what a resilient agent network looks like. Providers should take note to prepare for future crises.

Kenya’s Expansion of G2P Becomes Lifeline During COVID-19 Crisis

Kenya offers higher fees to providers that facilitate digital government-to-person payments in underserved areas. Today, this makes it easier to reach hundreds of thousands of low-income people with assistance during the COVID-19 crisis.

Agent Networks: Vital to COVID-19 Response, in Need of Support

Digital payments are central to the global COVID-19 response, but the agent networks that distribute these funds are struggling to remain open. Here are three questions policy makers must answer to ensure agents reach as many people as possible.

Last-Mile Agent Networks: Why Public-Private Partnerships Matter

Building out rural agent networks isn’t just about harnessing digital innovations. Global experience shows that it’s also about the public and private sectors working together.

Bringing Digital Finance Agents to the Last Mile in Indonesia

A recent CGAP publication identifies six principles for viable agent networks in rural areas. In this post, we look at how where Indonesia stands against these principles.

BTPN Wow! Using Open APIs to Bring E-Commerce to Its 250,000 Agents

By connecting its agents to e-commerce platforms, BTPN is giving agents and end-customers in Indonesia more reasons to use its mobile banking service.

The Role of Cash In/Cash Out in Digital Financial Inclusion

Getting cash into and out of the digital system remains one of the main barriers to financial inclusion in emerging markets — even in markets where digital financial services are on the rise.

How E-Commerce Is Transforming the Idea of the Rural Agent

E-commerce doesn't come up very often in conversations about agent networks for digital financial services - but it should.