For many recipients of G2P payments, agents serve as a vital last mile link between digital transfers and usable cash. A user-friendly network of agents is often a key element of a thriving digital payments ecosystem.
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.
Emilio Hernandez, Christopher Blackburn 
Rural agent networks are critical to “last mile” financial inclusion. This reading deck for policy makers does two things: (i) it shows how rural Cash-in/Cash-out (CICO) agent network expansion is key to ensuring poor people can capture the benefits of digital financial ecosystems; and (ii) it presents a set of policies that have been effective in enabling rural CICO in a way that benefits vulnerable segments, like rural women, and...
Better Than Cash Alliance
This Better Than Cash Alliance report details principles for building responsible digital payment systems. An update to BTCA’s 2016 publication, the report emphasizes the importance of consumer trust driven by reliability, interoperability between services, and conscious efforts to include marginalized communities, particularly women.
Truong Quyen and Akshat Pathak
During the pandemic, Duong Thi Thuy, a mobile money agent in the Quang Ninh province, improvised her business to help her community follow the guidelines on social distancing and government norms. This is her story about the adoption of DFS and how it changed her life.
Rahul Chatterjee, Monica Dutta
COVID-19 has seen governments across the globe walk a tightrope as they scramble to contain the spread of the disease while keeping the economy stable. In this unprecedented situation, ground-level data for evidence-based decision-making assumes critical significance. This blog looks at five key lessons from MSC’s research on COVID-19.
Emilio Hernandez, David Kim
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.
Emilio Hernandez
Most digital financial services users require agents to help them switch between worlds of cash and digital currency. Global evidence suggests six principles for building viable agent networks in rural areas home to poor, financially excluded populations.
