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This paper uses a randomized controlled trial to study the effects of access to agent banking. Individuals were encouraged to open an account and transact at a banking agent or a branch of a financial institution. Compared with individuals who were sent to the branch, individuals sent to an agent increased the number of transactions and incurred lower transaction costs with the agent. These transactions are, however, only half as large as those made at the branch because branch tellers are less likely to share information about clients with others. Banking with agents thus entails a trade-off between lower transaction costs and lack of privacy.

E-Finance and E-Security --- Field Experiment --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Transaction Costs

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Solving the liquidity management challenge is one of the next big issues facing mobile money providers around the world. In Kenya, 20 percent of m-pesa customers report that they cannot withdraw money from an m-pesa agent. In 70 percent of those cases, the retail agent did not have sufficient funds. Nonetheless, more than 98 percent of m-pesa customers are happy with the solution. This suggests that even though there are liquidity problems, the customers are willing to look past that - at least for the time being - because of the overall value they perceive from the mobile money solution. Liquidity management takes two forms: management of electronic value in the mobile wallet and cash management. It is becoming more common for electronic liquidity to be handled not only by the retail agents, but also by the master agents. Technology is also being developed to help the master agents and the mobile financial services provider (MFSP) manage liquidity.

Access to Finance --- E-Finance and E-Security --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Mobile Money --- Non Bank Financial Institutions

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In this note authors explore the many ways that adults in the Maldives are using digital payment services through mobile phones, the internet, and bank accounts. The authors also explore savings habits and outline opportunities to use digital technology to bring financial services to adults who still have no accounts. The Findex Notes series summarizes data compiled by the Global Findex from nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults in over 140 economies in 2017, including more than 1,000 adults in the Maldives. Research is showing that when people embrace digital financial services, a range of development benefits follow. When women in India received personal accounts linked to a jobs guarantee program, they increased their labor force participation and earnings compared to women who received such payments into a join account controlled by their husbands. The improvements in employment and earnings improvements disproportionately benefitted women with previously low labor force participation and those whose husbands were most opposed to their getting a job. Women-headed households in Nepal spent 15 percent more on nutritious foods (meat and fish) and 20 percent more on education after receiving free savings accounts. Another study found that the adoption of mobile money accounts in Kenya helped lift 194,000 people out of poverty, and that the accounts proved especially beneficial for women. Mobile money has also been cited as a fast and efficient method of sending and receiving funds from a network of acquaintances during an emergency, potentially reducing the likelihood that those impacted by a financial crisis will descend into poverty.

E-Finance and E-Security --- Finance and Development --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Financial Structures --- Remittances

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The Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL) has developed an ambitious plan in 2014 to reform civil registration in the country and to establish a national identity register. About 5 percent of people in Sierra Leone are registered in a national identity registry, managed by the National Registration Secretariat (NRS). The development of digital identity in Sierra Leone can help the country's economic and social development. The use of an official identity can improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of collecting taxes, conducting census, issuing passports, delivering pensions, managing elections, controlling borders, delivering financial services, and running effective safety net programs. This report provides a rapid diagnosis of the potential and readiness of digital identity in Sierra Leone, and is funded by the Korean Trust Fund (KTF) and the Ebola multi-donor trust fund (MDTF). The report is based on consultations held with the GOSL and with stakeholders in the identity ecosystem of Sierra Leone. The report provides a preliminary review of the enabling environment and the functional identity programs in Sierra Leone, along with a discussion of possible next steps.

E-Finance and E-Security --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Ict Policy and Strategies --- Information and Communication Technologies

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Financial sector authorities increasingly prioritize financial inclusion and financial consumer protection, alongside existing priorities of stability and integrity. An enabling environment that facilitates competition, promotes innovation and the use of technology, addresses risks in a proportionate manner, and empowers financial consumers to make informed choices is critical to improving financial inclusion and consumer protection. The 2017 Global Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection (FICP) Survey tracks the prevalence of key policy, legal, regulatory, and supervisory approaches to advancing financial inclusion and consumer protection. The 2017 Global FICP Survey covers key topics related to the enabling environment for financial inclusion and financial consumer protection, including national financial inclusion strategies, the issuance of e-money by nonbanks, agent-based delivery models, simplified customer due diligence, institutional arrangements for financial consumer protection, disclosure, dispute resolution, and financial capability. The 2017 Global FICP Survey covers regulated retail institutions that provide standard loan, deposit, or payment services. Financial sector authorities in 124 jurisdictions - representing 141 economies and more than 90 percent of the world's unbanked adult population - responded to the 2017 Global FICP Survey. This report presents main findings from an analysis of those responses.

Contractual Savings --- E-Finance and E-Security --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Financial Regulation and Supervision