Agent Network, Incentives, and Liquidity Archives - G2P Network

Agent Networks at the Last Mile: Implications for Policy Makers

Brian Webster — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 16:42:06 +0000

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 that reinforces the effectiveness of social programs targeting these segments.

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UN Principles for Responsible Digital Payments: Building Trust, Mitigating Risks & Driving Inclusive Economies

Brian Webster — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 14:27:38 +0000

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.

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Enabling the community to overcome the pandemic through digital payments

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 20:19:56 +0000

“We are at the beginning of a change. The pandemic has jolted us out of what was familiar till now and made us value safety, hygiene, and convenience in our daily lives. More people are now willing to try out digital payments than before COVID-19. I am simply helping my community to embrace this change,” says Duong Thi Thuy, a mobile money agent in the Quang Ninh province. Thuy runs a small grocery shop with her mother in Quang Ninh, a coastal province in north-eastern Vietnam. Once she completed high school, Thuy wanted to pursue language studies at the local university. However, in light of her mother’s poor health, Thuy took charge of the shop. The mother-daughter duo manages one of the oldest shops in the community. They serve nearly 100 customers of all ages and backgrounds each day.

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Coping measures for “measurement” in the time of COVID-19

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 15:55:36 +0000

Despite the unprecedented global effort, governments across the globe continue to struggle as they impose containment measures to reduce the spread, keep the health infrastructure up and running, and manage the fragile economy. In this situation, donor agencies and research agencies are doing their bit by trying to equip policymakers with ground-level data for evidence-based decision-making. In the past three or four months, we have seen the publication of multiple research reports. These research exercises focused on different aspects of the crisis, namely health behavior, food availability and consumer behavior, economic impact and finances, and government responses, among others. At MSC, we have a deep understanding of the poor, their household-decision making and gender dynamics, and the relationship of these factors with governments, regulators, and private sector players. The pandemic made it imperative for us to spearhead efforts to support policymakers with evidence and generate recommendations for decision-making through a series of synergistic research studies.

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

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:37:21 +0000

With many countries in lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 and the global economy slumping, digital payments are proving to be a critical lifeline for hundreds of millions of people. Over 133 countries have introduced or adapted social protection and jobs programs that rely on government-to-person (G2P) cash transfers. Remittances also continue to be essential. However, digital payments cannot reach people in need without functioning cash-in and cash-out (CICO) networks of bank branches, ATMs and agents. The most far-reaching of these among low-income customers — agent networks — are struggling and often are overlooked by policy makers. Based on CGAP and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its partners’ work to improve the global reach and quality of CICO networks over the past two years, here are a few questions that policy makers must answer to ensure agents reach as many people as possible with assistance during and after the crisis. Are CICO networks essential services during lockdowns? How can we ensure CICO networks remain viable despite loss of revenue during the crisis? Can we expand CICO networks to places where they are most needed?

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Agent Networks at the Last Mile

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:28:21 +0000

Most digital financial services users around the world live in cash-based societies, and they require a cheap and easy way to switch between the worlds of cash and digital currency. Agent networks that provide this service tend to cluster around urban and peri-urban areas and larger rural towns. However, global evidence shows that emerging agent network business models are improving agent viability in remote areas home to many of the world’s poor and financially excluded populations, many of whom may also receive payments from the government. Based on an analysis of these models, this report describes six principles for effective cash-in/cash-out agent networks at the last mile and highlights examples of where they are being applied throughout the world. Digital financial services providers, policy makers, and regulators will find concrete recommendations for putting these principles into practice to advance financial inclusion.

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Harnessing Digital Technology and Payments to Support People and Small Businesses through COVID-19 and Beyond

Anit Mukherjee — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 16:42:27 +0000

Developing countries are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. As governments impose strict lockdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus, families and small businesses are finding it difficult to earn enough to tide these difficult times. This has created a vast number of ‘new poor’ who will continue to be severely affected by the economic downturn even after the immediate public health emergency is brought under control.

In response, many L/MICs have announced direct cash transfers to citizens and financial support to small businesses to help mitigate some of the impact. How can these countries leverage digital technologies, especially the combination of digital ID, financial access, and mobile phones, to deliver these programs better, getting resources to individuals and small businesses quickly and efficiently? What other digital tools can help small businesses survive the COVID crisis and thrive after it? And how can developing countries use COVID-19 cash transfers to expand the digital payments acceptance ecosystem for small businesses and deliver the support they need to transition to this new way of doing business?

Drawing on the global, regional, and national experiences, this event will highlight the opportunities and challenges of building a better digital infrastructure to help individuals and SMEs in developing countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Featuring:

Alan Gelb, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Alice Waweru, Regional Program Manager for the Pan-Africa Youth Entrepreneur Development Program, TechnoServe
Juan Thomas, Global Entrepreneurship Director, TechnoServe
Manoj Sharma, Founding Partner, MicroSave Consulting

Moderator:

Anit Mukherjee, Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development

If you have questions for our panelists, please submit them to events@cgdev.org, tweet @CGDev #CGDTalks, or submit your comments via YouTube.

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