Why Distributing Mobile Money Is Harder than Airtime for MNOs
It’s often said mobile network operators (MNOs) have the advantage over banks in creating agent networks from their dense carpet of prepaid airtime sellers. But is this true?Does Branchless Banking Reach Poor People? The Evidence from India
This is the second post in a mini-series in which we present new evidence from three countries on whether branchless banking is reaching poor people. This post looks at banking customers acquired and serviced by Eko as a Business Correspondent of banks in India. The first post looked at EasyPaisa customers in Pakistan.
Ghana: Aiming for Interoperability in Branchless Banking
With 6 live branchless banking deployments involving 12 banks, 3 Mobile Network Operators, 2 start-ups and a government entity, the race is on in Ghana to reach the unbanked with branchless banking services.Can Brazil’s Agents Provide a Wider Range of Services?
The prevailing wisdom about Brazil’s vast agent network (largest in the world, 4x that of Kenya and the Philippines combined!) is that it is used mainly for bill payments. This network appears to be a missed opportunity to also make credit, savings, and other products available to low-income people in an affordable way. Is this channel being underutilized for poor people?Does Branchless Banking Reach Poor People? The Evidence from Pakistan
In this mini-series we explore new evidence from three countries on whether branchless banking is reaching poor people starting today with Pakistan.
G2P Starts with Government to the Poorest in Fiji
Fiji’s government is now insisting that all communal land lease payments, mostly to rural communities, must move to electronic payment. Financial institutions, government ministries and Central Banks around the region have their eyes trained on Fiji, watching the latest evidence of viable financial inclusion efforts unfold in the Pacific.Tips on Mobile Money Product Design from Uganda
How much would you like to pay to save? Zero, most likely. In fact, you probably hate the fees your bank charges for the privilege of holding your funds and disbursing when you ask for them.Pakistan: Branchless Banking’s Business Model Laboratory
Over the past several months, we have taken a close look at the branchless banking industry in a few key countries. We have presented our learning from Brazil, Mexico and India over the last few weeks. Today we continue with our analysis of Pakistan and share this summary note on the branchless banking industry.Can Mobile Money Be “Free”?
CGAP wants the financially excluded to get access to mobile financial services. To suggest that MNOs make mobile money “free” may then come across as self-serving. On the contrary, making money in mobile money and making it “free” are compatible.A Bold Move Toward Simplifying AML/CFT: Lessons from Mexico
Regulators around the world today are beginning to realize that the chances of expanding access through branchless banking can be very limited without reducing the account-opening requirements through agents and mobile phones. The challenge is to strike the right balance between reducing account-opening requirements while maintaining basic controls for AML/CFT.Marketing Branchless Banking
We’ve collected examples of branchless banking advertisements from around the world and interviewed providers about the lessons they’ve learned and how they’ve adapted their marketing strategies. The results – including case studies and examples of marketing collateral – are in this compilation deck.The State of the Branchless Banking Sector
As part of our efforts to promote branchless banking as a way of reducing the cost and expanding the reach of financial services, the Technology Program monitors the uptake of branchless banking around the world.Branchless Banking Gains Momentum in India
Over the past several months, we have taken a close look at the branchless banking industry in a few key countries. We have presented our learning from Brazil and Mexico over the last few weeks. Today we offer a snapshot of the conditions for branchless banking in India drawn from a summary note of the Indian scene completed at the end of 2010.Showcasing Successes in Banking Beyond Branches in Latin America
The Bridges to Cash showcase recognizes players who have built a dense and sustainable network of cash merchants where people cash-in and cash-out conveniently from their electronic accounts.Delivering Government Payments in the Wilds of Northern Kenya
Social transfer programmes all over the globe are recognizing the value of paying cash grants through some form of financial “account”, accounts increasingly administered by a network of payment agents.New Branchless Banking Resources – Headlines for April 2011
There are several new resources that have come out recently on branchless banking.Drivers of Mobile Money Profitability
This post is the second in the series on “Five Business Case Insights on Mobile Money.” In the first post, we shared with you a detailed presentation on the five insights. Here we explain further the first three insights.Mexico: Promising Moves Towards New Banking Models
Over the past several months, we have taken a close look at the branchless banking industry in a few key countries. Last week we presented our learnings from Brazil. Today we continue with our analysis of Mexico and share this summary note on the Mexican branchless banking industry.Branchless Banking and Microinsurance: A Perfect Marriage?
In previous blogs Mark Pickens has lamented the lack of innovation by branchless banking providers in products that go beyond payments. But there are some green-shoots of innovation. In this blog we take a look at some examples of early experiments that we have seen involving in micro-insurance.Commercial Investment Landscape in Branchless Banking
This blog post summarizes a quick review of commercial investments in mobile financial services and branchless banking. We focused our review on equity deals between 2005 and 2010 involving mobile payment companies, agent companies, payment platforms and others providers that we knew were targeting the financially excluded in developing countries.