Page 162 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 1

STS422 Robin G. et al.
amounts, mirroring the convenience of informal savings and mitigating some
of the major barriers to using established banks for low-income customers.
Examples of mobile wallets in Cambodia that are increasingly moving from
providing payments to include other services are ABA Mobile, TrueMoney,
PiPay and Wing.

Tailor delivery of savings services to female and rural customers to
improve savings mobilization: In Cambodia, one specific challenge is that
deposits often have to be made at the MDI branches, and users of mobile
wallets and savings accounts still require agent networks and doorstep
banking to penetrate rural areas. An example of tailoring delivery networks
better to women customers is the LienVietPostBank in Viet Nam, which
partnered with the national women’s union to offer a distribution network with
accompanying financial literacy workshops.

Develop delivery channels to provide better access to savings in rural
areas: In Cambodia one specific challenge is that deposits often have to be
made at MDI branches. Yet nearly 50 percent of adults in Cambodia take more
30 minutes to reach a bank or MDI (FinScope, 2015). As many users of mobile
wallets and savings accounts still require cash, agent networks and doorstep
banking are necessary in rural areas and provide an opportunity to help clients
use all suitable available products. For example, Equity Bank in Kenya, which
uses a rural agent network, mobilizes 20 percent of its deposits digitally.
Another example includes the Pafupi savings accounts of NBS Bank in Malawi
which are opened by mobile sales agents in less than ten minutes with local
agents visiting women customers in rural communities. The account holders
are also given an ATM card to use for withdrawals at agent locations and at
any NBS Bank ATM (UNCDF MicroLead, 2018).

Link savings accounts to regular income streams such as wages and
pensions and payment services to turn passive accounts active: An
example is the AMRET family savings product, a digital e-wallet that aims to
link the income streams of garment factory workers to their family savings and
payment accounts. Likewise, mobile network operators (MNOs) and fintech
providers can partner with banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to
ensure payments and savings can be made by customers. An example is Paytm
wallet in India, which was originally a payments application but now allows
users to link their mobile wallet with their savings accounts and debit and
credit cards from other FSPs to link savings and payments.

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